Olfactory Impairment in Parkinson's Disease:Olfactory Impairment in Parkinson's Disease: Its Frequency and Correlation to Clinical severity in Sudanese Patients,Wad-Medani Teaching Hospital, 2022

Abstract

Background: The olfactory impairment is the most common non-motor symptom in Parkinson's disease (PD) . It may predate the onset of Parkinson's disease by several years and it is one of the supportive criteria for the diagnosis. It's presence is also related to rapid disease progression and more pronounced impairment of Motor symptoms. Objective: The aim of this study is to determine the frequency of olfactory impairment in patients with Idiopathic Parkinson's disease and it's correlation to the clinical severity of the disease. Methods: This is a cross sectional hospital based study, carried out at Wad-Medani Teaching Hospital at the Neurology Department over a period of four months; from March to July 2022. Data was collected using a validated version of olfactory questionnaire and Hoehn and yahr scale , our study covered all PD patients who were fitting the inclusion criteria. Data was processed and analyzed using SPSS version 25. Results: The study included 61 patients, males were 32 (52.46 %) and females were 29(47.54%). The mean age of patients was 63.8 +/- 12.3 SD, about 76% of them had been diagnosed within less than 5 years. Most patients 48 (78. 7 %) were normosmic and only 13 (21.3%) had hyposmia ranging from mild to Severe form. Male patients had higher Frequency of anosmia 9 cases (69.3 %) compared to females (30.7%), the P value was (0.012) statistically significant for sex difference in olfactory dysfunction . The highest number of cases 24 (39.3%) were in stage 3 of Hoehn and yahr (H & Y) scale. There is statistically significant correlation between the scale and the degree of hyposmia (P value <0.013). The study also showed that in near half (45.5%) of hyposmia patients the olfactory impairment had antedated the Parkinsonism by mean of 4.8 +/- 1.6 years. Conclusion: The study concluded that the olfactory impairment presents in about one fifth of Parkinson's disease patients, with male predominance and was associated with more severe impairment in motor performance scales. It also predates PD in about half of the patients by mean of 4.8 years.