Ann Arthritis Clin Rheumatol | Volume 2, Issue 1 | Short Communication | Open Access
Naomi Schlesinger1*, Mariam Alikhan1 and Richard L Doty2
1Department of Rheumatology, Rutgers-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, USA
2Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, USA
*Correspondance to: Naomi Schlesinger
Fulltext PDFObjective: Patients with gout, the most common inflammatory arthritis, frequently have multiple associated comorbidities, affecting many organs and aspects of one’s health. Do gout patients have an impaired sense of smell?
Methods: The 40-item University of Pennsylvania Smell Identification Test (UPSIT), commercially known as the Smell Identification Test, was applied to the first 30 gout patients who had received care at an academic rheumatology practice between July 15, 2017 and May 25, 2018. The UPSIT scores were compared, using a paired t-test, to age and sex-matched controls from a normative database maintained at the University of Pennsylvania Smell and Taste Center.
Results: Gout patients ranged in age from 31 to 86 years (mean: 59 years) and included 26 men and 4 women. The duration of gout ranged from 1 to 43 years (mean: 9 years), with 19 having gout for >5 years. Visible tophi were observed in 6 patients (33%). C-reactive protein was within normal range except in one gout patient. Serum urate levels ranged from 5.1 mg/dL to 12 mg/dL (mean: 6.29 mg/dL). The mean UPSIT scores of the two groups did not differ significantly [respective patient and control means (SDs)=31.40 (5.79) and 31.80 (4.37); t29=-0.342, p=0.74].
Conclusion: This is the first study to examine quantitatively whether the sense of smell is impacted by gout. Despite being an inflammatory disorder with multiple associated comorbidities, we did not find a statistically significant effect of gout on smell function using a well-validated olfactory test
Gout; Smell
Schlesinger N, Alikhan M, Doty RL. Is the Sense of Smell Impaired in Gout Patients? Ann Arthritis Clin Rheumatol. 2019; 2(1): 1008.