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Olfactory dysfunction and quality of life in patients with transfusion-dependent thalassemia

European Archives of Oto-Rhino-Laryngology volume 274, pages 3417–3421 (2017)Cite this article

Abstract

Transfusion-dependent thalassemia (TDT) is a group of thalassemia syndromes that require regular blood transfusions for survival. It is unknown whether the sense of smell of patients with TDT is affected, and if so, whether smell loss has an adverse effect on quality of life (QOL). Olfactory thresholds were measured using Snap & Sniff® wands. QOL was assessed via the Short Form-36 (SF-36) questionnaire. Forty-two TDT patients from the Thalassemia Center in Istanbul Medical Faculty were tested (mean age 26.6 years), along with 42 healthy controls (mean age 28.0 years). Mean olfactory sensitivity was lower in the TDT patients than the controls (p < 0.0001). TDT was associated with lower mean QOL scores on the domains of physical function (p < 0.0001), physical role limitation (p = 0.011), and general health (p < 0.0001). Within the TDT group, significant correlations were present between the threshold scores and physical function, physical role limitation, emotional role limitation, and general health. Patients with TDT are less sensitive to odors than healthy controls and the lower olfactory test scores are related to lower quality of life, suggesting that decreased smell function is an additional complication of this disease.

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Abbreviations

TDT:

Transfusion dependent thalassemia

QOL:

Quality of life

OF:

Olfactory function

SF-36:

Short form-36

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Acknowledgements

We gratefully thank Mr. David Chapman for kindly providing language revision and Dilek Kaboglu and Sevda Gundag nurses for their great help during study.

Author information

Affiliations

  1. Department of Pediatrics, Istanbul University Istanbul Faculty of Medicine, Istanbul, Turkey

    Yasin Yilmaz

  2. Division of Hematology and Oncology, Department of Pediatrics, Istanbul University Istanbul Faculty of Medicine, Millet Caddesi, Fatih, 34098, Istanbul, Turkey

    Zeynep Karakas, Selime Aydogdu, Ayse Ozkan Karagenc, Deniz Tugcu & Serap Karaman

  3. Istanbul University Istanbul Faculty of Medicine, Istanbul, Turkey

    Busra Uzun

  4. Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Istanbul University Istanbul Faculty of Medicine, Istanbul, Turkey

    Comert Sen, Senol Comoglu & Kadir Serkan Orhan

  5. University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Smell and Taste Center, Philadelphia, USA

    Crystal Wylie & Richard L. Doty

Authors
  1. Yasin Yilmaz
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  2. Zeynep Karakas
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  3. Busra Uzun
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  4. Comert Sen
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  5. Senol Comoglu
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  6. Kadir Serkan Orhan
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  7. Selime Aydogdu
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  8. Ayse Ozkan Karagenc
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  9. Deniz Tugcu
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  10. Serap Karaman
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  11. Crystal Wylie
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  12. Richard L. Doty
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Serap Karaman.

Ethics declarations

Ethical approval

Institutional Review Board (Istanbul University Istanbul Medical Faculty Clinical Research Ethic Committee) approval was obtained for this study (No. 2016/807).

Funding of study

This study received no extramural funding.

Conflict of interest

Yasin Yilmaz, Zeynep Karakas, Büsra Uzun, Cömert Sen, Senol Comoglu, Selime Aydogdu, Ayse Ozkan Karagenc, Deniz Tugcu, Serap Karaman, Kadir Serkan Orhan, and Crystal Wylie declare that they have no conflict of interest. Richard L. Doty is the President of Sensonics International, the manufacturer and distributor of the olfactory threshold test system employed in this study.

Informed consent

Informed consent was obtained from all patients for being included in the study.

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Cite this article

Yilmaz, Y., Karakas, Z., Uzun, B. et al. Olfactory dysfunction and quality of life in patients with transfusion-dependent thalassemia. Eur Arch Otorhinolaryngol 274, 3417–3421 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00405-017-4668-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00405-017-4668-7

Keywords

  • Transfusion-dependent thalassemia
  • Olfactory dysfunction
  • Olfactory threshold
  • Psychophysics
  • SF-36
  • Quality of life