Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Schwabachanlage 6, 91054 Erlangen, Germany.
Neurosci Lett. 2010 Mar 8;471(3):139-43. doi: 10.1016/j.neulet.2010.01.027. Epub 2010 Jan 25.
Several studies investigating olfactory hedonics in major depression have brought conflicting results and an analysis of the relation between severity of depression, anhedonia and olfactory hedonics is still lacking. In order to investigate olfactory perception in different depressive states, we carried out olfactory testing during a depressive episode (n=37) and in a remitted state (n=17). As expected, patients were significantly less depressed (p<0.001) and less anhedonic (p=0.001) in the remitted state. A comparison of olfactory perception between age- and gender-matched patients and healthy volunteers (n=37) controlled for intrinsic olfactory deficits in major depression. In the depressive episode, we applied regression analyses to investigate the relation of olfactory hedonics, severity of depression and anhedonia. The Sniffin' Sticks Test extended by analogue rating scales for intensity and hedonic estimates was employed for olfactory testing. Depression severity was assessed with the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), anhedonia with the Snaith-Hamilton-Pleasure-Scale (SHAPS). Odour identification ability was significantly reduced during the depressive state. In contrast, no significant differences in hedonic and intensity estimates could be found between the depressive and the remitted state and healthy controls. During the depressive episode, we found a significant relation only between anhedonia and olfactory hedonics. We concluded that anhedonia has potential impact on olfactory hedonics in major depression. Our results indicate the need for (1) confirmatory studies in severe melancholic depression and (2) investigation of the impact of anhedonia on olfactory hedonics in psychiatric diseases other than major depression.
几项研究调查了重性抑郁症中的嗅觉愉悦性，得出了相互矛盾的结果，而且对抑郁严重程度、快感缺失和嗅觉愉悦性之间的关系仍缺乏分析。为了研究不同抑郁状态下的嗅觉感知，我们在抑郁发作期间（n=37）和缓解期（n=17）进行了嗅觉测试。正如预期的那样，患者在缓解期明显抑郁程度较轻（p<0.001），快感缺失程度较轻（p=0.001）。我们对年龄和性别匹配的患者与健康志愿者（n=37）进行了嗅觉感知比较，以控制重性抑郁症中的固有嗅觉缺陷。在抑郁发作期间，我们应用回归分析来研究嗅觉愉悦性、抑郁严重程度和快感缺失之间的关系。我们采用了扩展的嗅吸棒测试，并结合了强度和愉悦度的模拟评分来进行嗅觉测试。抑郁严重程度用贝克抑郁量表（BDI）评估，快感缺失用 Snaith-Hamilton-Pleasure-Scale（SHAPS）评估。在抑郁状态下，气味识别能力显著降低。相比之下，在抑郁和缓解状态以及健康对照组之间，嗅觉愉悦度和强度估计没有发现显著差异。在抑郁发作期间，我们只发现快感缺失和嗅觉愉悦性之间存在显著关系。我们得出结论，快感缺失对重性抑郁症中的嗅觉愉悦性有潜在影响。我们的结果表明，需要在严重的忧郁性抑郁症中进行（1）验证性研究，以及在除重性抑郁症以外的精神病学疾病中调查快感缺失对嗅觉愉悦性的影响。
