Olfactory function assessment of migraine patients by using the Sniffin’ sticks test: A clinical study

Abstract

ObjectiveThis as a cross-sectional controlled clinical study. We hypothesis that the olfactory functions in migraine patients may differ from the healthy controls. In this study, we evaluated the olfactory functions by using a Sniffin’ Sticks test battery, which is a reliable and semi quantitative test to evaluate for olfactory dysfunction. MethodsPatients above 18 years of age who had migraine received a definitive diagnosis of migraine from experienced headache specialists based on the criteria of The International Classification of Headache Disorders-3 were included. Odor threshold, discrimination, and identification parameters were assessed using the “Sniffin’ Sticks” test. ResultsOne-hundred and one migraine patients (age [mean ± SD], 36.9 ± 10.4 years; range, 18–60 years) and sixty healthy volunteers (age 34.5 ± 13.2 years, range 18–65 years) participated in our study.The median odor threshold score [percentiles 25th–75th] was 8.3 [6.5–9.8] for the migraine group during attack free period and 4.5[3.6–6.0] for the control group. It was found that the migraine group had a median odor discrimination score of 10.0 [10.0–13.0] and the control group 12.0 [11.0–13.0]. These differences were statistically significant (p < 0.001 and p = 0.032 respectively).The median odor discrimination and identification scores were statistically significant higher for the participants with higher educational level group than in those of lower educational group (p < 0.0001). The median odor discrimination and identification scores of those without allodynia (12.0 [10.0–14.0] and 13.0 [10.0–13.0] respectively) were higher than that of those with allodynia (11.0 [9.0–12.0] and 11.0 [10.0–13.0] respectively) (p = 0.037 and p = 0.034 respectively). ConclusionsWe found that the odor thresholds, discrimination and identification scores of the migraine group demonstrate differences from those of the healthy group and in relation to allodynia.