Sense of smell disorders in family physician practice

Abstract

A properly functioning sense of smell recognizes both food and danger and provides sensory input. Sense of smell is lost and/or impaired in diseases accompanied by impaired nasal patency such as chronic rhinosinusitis with or without nasal polyps, allergic rhinitis, respiratory infections including acute rhinosinusitis. In the case of rhinosinusitis in adults, olfactory impairment is one of the four main symptoms of the disease. They can also be caused by damage to the olfactory neuron, e.g. in the course of a viral infection. Loss of smell and/or taste reported by patients with COVID-19 may be a diagnostic hint. Modern intranasal glucocorticosteroids are used to treat olfactory disturbances and loss of smell caused by nasal patency impairment (or accompanying diseases with nasal patency impairment).