Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this study was to compare olfactory functions pre- and post-CPAP treatment in patients with moderate to severe OSA, and to evaluate the factors that cause changes in olfactory functions.
Methods
Twenty-two patients who had completed regular usage of CPAP treatment for 2 months were included in this prospective study. Olfactory tests using Sniffin’ Sticks were performed pre- and post-treatment.
Results
The mean age of the subjects was 47.6 ± 9.5 years. We did not find a significant change in olfactory functions after 2 months of CPAP treatment in our study group. When the patients were divided into two groups—those whose olfactory functions showed improvement and those whose functions did not—it was found that the mean age of the patients whose olfactory functions did not improve was significantly higher statistically. A significant adverse correlation was found between age and post-treatment olfactory functions, specifically in odour threshold and odour identification scores.
Conclusions
Increased age adversely affects the therapeutic effect of CPAP treatment for olfactory functions.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Senaratna CV, Perret JL, Lodge CJ, Lowe AJ, Campbell BE, Matheson MC, Hamilton GS, Dharmage SC (2017) Prevalence of obstructive sleep apnea in the general population: a systematic review. Sleep Med Rev 4:70–81
Mirrakhimov AE, Sooronbaev T, Mirrakhimov EM (2013) Prevalence of obstructive sleep apnea in Asian adults: a systematic review of the literature. BMC Pulm Med 13:10
Olson EJ, Park JG, Morgenthaler TI (2005) Obstructive sleep apnea-hypopnea syndrome. Prim Care 32:329–359
Berry RB, Brooks R, Gamaldo CE (2016) For the American Academy of Sleep Medicine. The AASM manual for the scoring of sleep and associated events: rules, terminology and technical specifications, version 2.3. American Academy of Sleep Medicine, Darien
Almendros I, Acerbi I, Vilaseca I, Montserrat JM, Navajas D, Farre R (2008) Continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) induces early nasal inflammation. Sleep 31:127–131
Magliulo G, De Vincentiis M, Iannella G, Ciofalo A, Pasquariello B, Manno A et al (2018) Olfactory evaluation in obstructive sleep apnoea patients. Acta Otorhinolaryngol Ital 38(4):338–345
Salihoglu M, Kendirli MT, Altundag A, Tekeli H, Saglam M, Cayonu M et al (2013) The effect of obstructive sleep apnea on olfactory functions. Laryngoscope 124:2190–2194
Farmer MN, Raddin RS, Roberts JD (2009) The relationship between taste, olfaction, and nutrition in the cancer population. J Support Oncol 7:70–72
Keverne EB (2004) Importance of olfactory and vomeronasal systems for male sexual function. Physiol Behav 83:177–187
Willander J, Larsson M (2007) Olfaction and emotion: the case of autobiographical memory. Mem Cogn 35:1659–1663
Hummel T, Nordin S (2005) Olfactory disorders and their consequences for quality of life. Acta Otolaryngol 125:116–121
Sommer JU, Kraus M, Birk R, Schultz JD, Hörmann K, Stuck BA (2014) Functional short- and long-term effects of nasal CPAP with and without humidification on the ciliary function of the nasal respiratory epithelium. Sleep Breath 18:85–93
Koutsourelakis I, Vagiakis E, Perraki E, Karatza M, Magkou C, Kopaka M, Roussos C, Zakynthinos S (2011) Nasal inflammation in sleep apnoea patients using CPAP and effect of heated humidification. Eur Respir J 37:587–594
Saka C, Vuralkan E, Fırat IH, Alicura S, Hücümenoğlu S, Akın I, Ardıç S, Gökler A (2012) The effects of CPAP treatment on nasal mucosa in patients with obstructive sleep apnea. Eur Arch Otorhinolaryngol 269:2065–2067
Walliczek-Dworschak U, Cassel W, Mittendorf L, Pellegrino R, Koehler U, Güldner C, Dworschak POG, Hildebrandt O, Daniel H, Günzel T, Teymoortash A, Hummel T (2017) Continuous positive air pressure improves orthonasal olfactory function of patients with obstructive sleep apnea. Sleep Med 34:24–29
Boerner B, Tini GM, Fachinger P, Graber SM, Irani S (2017) Significant improvement of olfactory performance in sleep apnea patients after three months of nasal CPAP therapy: observational study and randomized trial. PLoS One 12:e0171087
Köseoğlu S, Derin S, Yilmaz M, Kutlu G, Sahan M (2017) Does positive airway pressure therapy improve olfactory function? Int Forum Allergy Rhinol 7:557–560
Kushida CA, Chediak A, Berry RB, Brown LK, Gozal D, Iber C, Parthasarathy S, Quan SF, Rowley JA (2008) Positive airway pressure titration task force; American Academy of Sleep Medicine. Clinical guidelines for the manual titration of positive airway pressure in patients with obstructive sleep apnea positive airway pressure. J Clin Sleep Med 4(2):157–171
Hummel T, Sekinger B, Wolf S, Pauli E, Kobal G (1997) “Sniffin’ sticks”: olfactory performance assessed by the combined testing of odor identification, odor discrimination and olfactory threshold. Chem Senses 22:39–52
Kobal G, Klimek L, Wolfensberger M, Gudziol H, Temmel A, Owen CM, Seeber H, Pauli E, Hummel T (2000) Multicenter investigation of 1,036 subjects using a standardized method for the assessment of olfactory function combining tests of odor identification, odor discrimination, and olfactory thresholds. Eur Arch Otorhinolaryngol 257:205–211
Wolfensberger M, Schnieper I, Welge-Lussen A (2000) “Sniffin’ Sticks”: a new olfactory test battery. Acta Otolaryngol 120:303–306
Buschhüter D, Smitka M, Puschmann S, Gerber JC, Witt M, Abolmaali ND, Hummel T (2008) Correlation between olfactory bulb volume and olfactory function. Neuroimage 42:498–502
Hummel T, Kobal G, Gudziol H, Mackay-Sim A (2007) Normative data for the “Sniffin’ Sticks” including tests of odor identification, odor discrimination, and olfactory thresholds: an upgrade based on a group of more than 3,000 subjects. Eur Arch Otorhinolaryngol 264:237–243
Barnes DC, Wilson DA (2014) Sleep and olfactory cortical plasticity. Front Behav Neurosci 8:134
Daurat A, Foret J, Bret-Dibat JL, Fureix C, Tiberge M (2008) Spatial and temporal memories are affected by sleep fragmentation in obstructive sleep apnea syndrome. J Clin Exp Neuropsychol 30:91–101
Fu D, Pinto JM, Wang L, Chen G, Zhan X, Wei Y (2015) The effect of nasal structure on olfactory function in patients with OSA. Eur Arch Otorhinolaryngol 272:357–362
Verstraeten E (2007) Neurocognitive effects of obstructive sleep apnea syndrome. Curr Neurol Neurosci Rep 7:161–166
Shadan F, Jalowayski A, Fahrenholz J, Kline LE, Dawson A (2005) Nasal cytology: a marker of clinically silent inflammation in patients with obstructive sleep apnea and a predictor of noncompliance with nasal CPAP. J Clin Sleep Med 1:266–270
Iskander NM, El-Hennawi DM, Yousef TF, El-Tabbakh MT, Elnahriry TA (2017) Evaluation of the effect of cigarette smoking on the olfactory neuroepithelium of New Zealand white rabbit, using scanning electron microscope. Eur Arch Otorhinolaryngol 274(6):2461–2468
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Ethical approval
All procedures in this study involving human participants were performed in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional research committee (Ankara Numune Training and Research Hospital, IRB No. E-18-1835) and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.
Informed consent
Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.
Additional information
Publisher’s note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Dinc, A.S., Cayonu, M., Duyar, S.S. et al. Increased age adversely affects the therapeutic effect of CPAP treatment for olfactory functions. Sleep Breath 24, 83–88 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11325-019-01889-1
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11325-019-01889-1