Parosmia Tied to Smell Recovery After Olfactory Training

THURSDAY, Dec. 3, 2020 -- For patients with postinfectious smell loss receiving olfactory training, the presence of parosmia is associated with clinically relevant recovery in olfactory discrimination and identification function, according to a study published online Nov. 19 in The Laryngoscope.

David T. Liu, M.D., from the Technical University of Dresden in Germany, and colleagues conducted a retrospective cohort study involving 143 adults with postinfectious smell loss who received olfactory training. The authors examined the association between smell loss-related factors and clinically relevant changes in overall and subdimensional olfactory function of threshold, discrimination, and identification.

The researchers found that those with lower baseline olfactory function were more likely to have clinically relevant improvements in overall olfactory function. Those with lower baseline olfactory function and those with parosmia at the initial visit were more likely to have relevant improvements in discrimination function; they were also more likely to have relevant improvement in odor identification. Those who were older in age were more likely to have clinically significant improvements in odor threshold.

"We found that the presence of parosmia and worse smell performance on testing of odor identification and discrimination was associated with clinically significant recovery in smell function for people experiencing postviral smell disorders," a coauthor said in a statement. "This means that smell training can help the smell pathways to start to regenerate and recover."

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Posted: December 2020