[The correlation between obstructive sleep apnea and olfaction function].

Objective

To investigate the olfactory function of patients with obstructive sleep apnea（OSA） without any treatment, and to providereference for clinical olfactory research.

Methods

One hundred and thirty-one participants underwent polysomnography（PSG） overnight, and were divided into OSA group （observation group） and non-OSA group （control group） according to the results. The two groups were examined by the Korean version of the olfactory stick test Ⅱ（Korean Bersion） of Sniffin Sticks Test （KVSS Test Ⅱ）. SPSS 26.0 statistical software were used to analyze the data.

Results

There was a significant difference in the incidence of olfactory disorders between the observation group and the control group（χ²=12.000, P=0.001）. The rate of olfactory disorders in patients with severe OSA was significantly higher than that in patients with mild OSA（P<0.05）, and the proportion of patients with olfactory disorders increased with the increase of OSA severity（χ²=10.672, P=0.001）. There was no statistically significant difference between the observation group and the control group in the severity of olfactory disorders（hyposmia and anosmia）（P=1.000）. KVSS between two groups of Test Ⅱ total score has no statistical difference（t=1.166, P=0.249）, the sense of smell recognition scores also has no statistical difference（t=1.598, P=0.116）, but the olfactory threshold score and olfactory cognition scores were statistically significant（t=5.346, t=6.405, P<0.001）.

Conclusion

OSA has a negative effect on the sense of smell, and the severity of OSA is positively correlated with the incidence of olfactory disorder. OSA olfactory disorder is mainly anosmia, and the main manifestation is the decrease of olfactory cognitive scores.