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Alterations in Smell During Pregnancy: Myth or Fact?

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Indian Journal of Otolaryngology and Head & Neck Surgery Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

To compare the olfactory functions of pregnant and non pregnant females draining the tribal tertiary care centre. Odor identification (OI), odor discrimination (OD) and odor threshold (OT) in subjects and control group with no previous Sino-nasal symptoms or pathology were included in the study. Mean scores of all the parameters were calculated in both the groups. Group A being of 60 pregnant females in 1st trimester and Group B constituted 60 non pregnant females as control group. Both the groups were matched for Age and Normal Mucociliary clearance range. Modified Indian Smell Identification Kit was used to assess all parameters. Before doing objective olfactory assessment all the study participants were given questionnaire for subjective assessment of olfaction in which we found significant impairment in drinking beverage and fragrance perception of flowers in pregnant females compared to non pregnant females. We also found there was no significant difference in mean scores of various olfactory parameters in multigravida and non pregnant females. The mean OI score in both groups was 9.54 ± 1.87 and 8.70 ± 1.62 respectively. Mean OD score of the two groups was 8.80 ± 2.61 and 9.80 ± 2.61 respectively and the mean OT score of both the groups was 6.99 ± 4.63 and 4.13 ± 2.48 respectively.

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Funding

This study was not funded by anyone.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of ENT, SMBT IMS&RC, Nasik, Maharashtra, India

    Leena Jain

  2. Department of OBGY, SMBT IMS&RC, Nasik, Maharashtra, India

    N. K. Vashisht

  3. Department of ENT, PCMS&RC, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India

    Shalini Jadia

  4. SMBT IMS&RC, Nasik, Maharashtra, India

    Pooja Nayak

  5. Public Health Dentistry, SMBT IDS&RC, Nasik, Maharashtra, India

    Manish Jain

Authors
  1. Leena Jain
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  2. N. K. Vashisht
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  3. Shalini Jadia
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  4. Pooja Nayak
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  5. Manish Jain
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Shalini Jadia.

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Conflict of interest

Leena Jain, N.K. Vashisht, Shalini Jadia, Pooja Nayak, Manish Jain declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical Approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Jain, L., Vashisht, N.K., Jadia, S. et al. Alterations in Smell During Pregnancy: Myth or Fact?. Indian J Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg 74, 146–149 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12070-020-02243-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12070-020-02243-8

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