Background/Purpose: Behçet’s disease (BD) is a chronic, relapsing type of vasculitis of unknown etiology, characterized by oral and urogenital ulcers and ocular inflammation with cutaneous, musculoskeletal, vascular, and nervous system manifestations. Few cases involving the nasal mucosa have been reported in the literature, and the true prevalence of BD remains unknown.  Neurological involvement associated with BD might play a more important role in causing olfactory dysfunction compared to mucosal involvement  but sufficient clinical data is not available about the effect of BD on olfaction in adults. We evaluated the olfactory function of patients diagnosed with BD.

Methods: Patients were chosen from among a consecutive patient group population who visited our  the internal medicine rheumatology polyclinic and otolaryngology departments of Ondokuz Mayıs University Hospital. A total of 50 participants (males and females), aged 18 to 60 years with a diagnosis of BD, and 46 healthy controls (matched to the study group for age and gender) were included.  BD was diagnosed based on the criteria defined by the International Study Group for BD.  A complete clinical history was taken, and a physical examination was performed, in all participants. Individuals with other rheumatic diseases; obstructive nasal pathologies leading to conductive-type olfactory dysfunction (e.g., septum deviation, nasal polyp); advanced systemic disease (e.g., hypertension, malignity); a history of antithyroid, antihistamine, antidepressant, or steroid medication within the past month; or who were current smokers, had an active upper respiratory infection or a history of otolaryngologic operations were excluded from the study. The results of the “Sniffin’ Sticks” (SS) olfactory test were compared between the two groups. 

Results: The mean age of the 50 BD patients was 35.3 ± 10 years, compared to 36.9 ± 11 years for the 46 control group patients. There was no significant group difference in age or gender distribution (p>0.05). Odor identification and overall scores were significantly lower in the BD group compared to the control group. There were no significant differences in odor discrimination scores between the BD and control groups (p>0.05). 

Conclusion: This is the first study to evaluate olfactory function in patients diagnosed with BD using the SS test. Odor identification was impaired in patients with BD compared to healthy controls, but there was no group difference in odor discrimination. Patients with BD  also should be  assessed for  involvement of olfactory function and may require treatment due to malfunction of the olfactory system that affects the quality of life.

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ACR Meeting Abstracts - https://acrabstracts.org/abstract/evaluation-of-olfactory-function-in-behcets-disease/