The influence of sex, allergic rhinitis, and test system on nasal sensitivity to airborne irritants: a pilot study.
"Nasal irritant sensitivity" is an important construct in environmental health science; functional measures, however, lack standardization. We performed duplicate measures of nasal irritant perceptual acuity on 16 subjects (evenly divided by sex and seasonal allergy status) using two different test compounds: carbon dioxide (CO2) (detection) and n-propanol (localization). The a priori hypotheses included a) allergic rhinitics will display lower perceptual thresholds than nonrhinitics; b) females will display lower perceptual thresholds than males; and c) estimates of perceptual acuity using the two test systems will be positively correlated. We obtained CO2 detection thresholds using an ascending concentration series, presenting 3-sec pulses of CO2, paired with air in random order, by nasal cannula. We obtained localization thresholds by simultaneously presenting stimuli (ascending concentrations of n-propanol vapor in air) and blanks (saturated water vapor in air) to opposite nostrils, with laterality randomized. In terms of test-retest reliability, individual replicate measures for CO2 detection thresholds correlated more closely than did the localization thresholds of volatile organic compounds (VOC) (r = 0.65 and r = 0.60, respectively). As an intertest comparison, log-transformed individual mean CO2 and VOC measures were positively correlated with an r of 0.63 (p < 0.01). In univariate analyses, sex predicted both log-transformed CO2 and VOC thresholds (females being more "sensitive"; p < 0.05 and 0.001, respectively). Nasal allergies predicted sensory testing results only in the multivariate analysis, and then only for VOC localization (p < 0.05). The question of population variation in nasal irritant sensitivity (as well as the generalizability of results across test compounds) deserves further attention.
Shusterman
D
D
Division of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, California 94804, USA. dennis@itsa.ucsf.edu
Murphy
M A
MA
Balmes
J
J
D000433:1-Propanol / Q000008:administration & dosage; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D016902:Air Pollution, Indoor / Q000009:adverse effects*; D002245:Carbon Dioxide / Q000008:administration & dosage; D002628:Chemoreceptor Cells / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D004781:Environmental Exposure; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009930:Organic Chemicals / Q000009:adverse effects; D010865:Pilot Projects; D012016:Reference Values; D012221:Rhinitis, Allergic, Perennial / Q000150:complications*; D012684:Sensory Thresholds; D012737:Sex Factors; D018877:Sick Building Syndrome / Q000503:physiopathology*; D014835:Volatilization
D009930:Organic Chemicals; D002245:Carbon Dioxide; D000433:1-Propanol