De Sousa Machado André, Sousa Francisco, Silva Ana, Meireles Luís
Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery, Centro Hospitalar Universitário do Porto, Porto, PRT.
Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Beira Interior, Covilha, PRT.
Cureus. 2023 Feb 7;15(2):e34712. doi: 10.7759/cureus.34712. eCollection 2023 Feb.
Introduction Olfactory dysfunction (OD) is often a devaluated sensorial affection. The objective evaluation of this dysfunction does not evaluate its compromise in patients' daily life. It is unclear to what extent there is a correlation between the objective evaluation of OD and patient-reported impairment. Objective We aim to search if Sniffin Sticks® correlates with the Visual Analog Scale (VAS) of Hyposmia Symptoms, and therefore if it is a useful method for clinical use. Methods A prospective study was carried out to evaluate and compare consecutive patients who had olfactory impairment due to COVID-19 that were referred to an otolaryngology office. The variables evaluated were gender, age, co-morbidities, and olfactory thresholds (measured according to Sniffin Sticks®). Patients were also enquired about their sense of impairment according to VAS from 1 (worst possible) to 10 (best possible). Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS (IBM SPSS Statistics 26). Normal distribution was checked using both skewness and kurtosis and Kolmogorov-Smirnov tests. Pearson correlation test was used to seek a correlation between VAS and olfactory thresholds. All reported p-values are two-tailed, with a p-value ≤ 0.05 indicating statistical significance. Results Our sample of 47 patients was composed of 30 females (63.8%) and 17 females (36.2%). We found a mean variation between olfactory thresholds before and after the intervention of 3.91±2.466, and an average improvement of 2.29±2.93 in the visual analog scale for subjective evaluation of olfactory impairment. According to the Pearson correlation test, with 95% confidence, there is evidence to claim a moderate association (0.512) between an improvement in olfactory thresholds and VAS (p=0.05). Conclusions There was a moderate correlation between ratings and measures of olfactory function. On an individual basis, there were remarkable differences between measures and ratings of olfactory function. VAS should be considered in the evaluation of the hyposmic patient, due to its simplicity and quick applicability.
引言
嗅觉功能障碍（OD）通常是一种被低估的感觉障碍。对这种功能障碍的客观评估并未考量其对患者日常生活的影响。目前尚不清楚OD的客观评估与患者报告的功能损害之间的关联程度。
目的
我们旨在探究嗅觉棒测试（Sniffin Sticks®）是否与嗅觉减退症状的视觉模拟量表（VAS）相关，从而确定其是否为一种适用于临床的有用方法。
方法
开展一项前瞻性研究，对因新冠病毒疾病（COVID-19）导致嗅觉障碍并转诊至耳鼻喉科门诊的连续患者进行评估和比较。评估的变量包括性别、年龄、合并症以及嗅觉阈值（根据嗅觉棒测试进行测量）。还询问患者根据1（最差）至10（最佳）的VAS对自身功能损害的感受。使用SPSS（IBM SPSS Statistics 26）进行统计分析。通过偏度和峰度以及柯尔莫哥洛夫-斯米尔诺夫检验来检查正态分布。使用皮尔逊相关检验来寻找VAS与嗅觉阈值之间的相关性。所有报告的p值均为双侧检验，p值≤0.05表示具有统计学意义。
结果
我们的47例患者样本中，有30名女性（63.8%）和17名男性（36.2%）。我们发现干预前后嗅觉阈值的平均变化为3.91±2.466，嗅觉功能损害主观评估的视觉模拟量表平均改善为2.29±2.93。根据皮尔逊相关检验，在95%的置信度下，有证据表明嗅觉阈值改善与VAS之间存在中度关联（0.512）（p = 0.05）。
结论
嗅觉功能的评分与测量之间存在中度相关性。在个体层面，嗅觉功能的测量与评分之间存在显著差异。由于VAS简单且易于应用，在评估嗅觉减退患者时应予以考虑。
