title: Evaluation of Olfactory and Gustatory Function of HIV Infected Women.
abstract: Background. Compliance with medication requires good sense of smell and taste. Objective. To evaluate the olfactory and gustatory function of HIV infected women in Ibadan, Nigeria. Methods. A case control study of women comprising 83 HIV infected women and 79 HIV uninfected women. Subjective self-rating of taste and smell function was by visual analogue scale. Olfactory function was measured via olfactory threshold (OT), olfactory discrimination (OD), olfactory identification (OI), and TDI using "Sniffin' sticks" kits and taste function (Total Taste Strips (TTS) score) measurement was by taste strips. Results. The mean age of the HIV infected women was 43.67 years ± 10.72 and control was 41.48 years ± 10.99. There was no significant difference in the self-reported assessment of smell (p = 0.67) and taste (p = 0.84) of HIV infected and uninfected women. Although the mean OT, OD, OI, TDI, and TTS scores of HIV infected and uninfected women were within the normosmic and normogeusic values, the values were significantly higher in the controls (p < 0.05). Hyposmia was in 39.7% of subjects and 12.6% of controls while hypogeusia was in 15.7% of subjects and 1.3% of controls. Conclusions. Hyposmia and hypogeusia are commoner among the HIV infected women than the HIV uninfected women and the risk increases with an increased duration of highly active antiretroviral therapy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Otorhinolaryngology, College of Medicine, University of Ibadan and University College Hospital, Ibadan 200212, Nigeria.
authors.forename: Ayotunde James
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-3918-6389
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Fasunla
authors.affiliation: Department of Otorhinolaryngology, College of Medicine, University of Ibadan and University College Hospital, Ibadan 200212, Nigeria.
authors.forename: Adekunle
authors.identifier: 0000-0001-7591-0875
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Daniel
authors.affiliation: Department of Otorhinolaryngology, College of Medicine, University of Ibadan and University College Hospital, Ibadan 200212, Nigeria.
authors.forename: Ukamaka
authors.identifier: 0000-0003-0628-4035
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Nwankwo
authors.affiliation: APIN/PEPFAR Clinic, University College Hospital, Ibadan 200212, Nigeria.
authors.forename: Kehinde Mobolanle
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Kuti
authors.affiliation: Department of Otorhinolaryngology, College of Medicine, University of Ibadan and University College Hospital, Ibadan 200212, Nigeria.
authors.forename: Onyekwere George
authors.initials: OG
authors.lastname: Nwaorgu
authors.affiliation: Department of Paediatrics, College of Medicine, University of Ibadan and University College Hospital, Ibadan 200212, Nigeria.
authors.forename: Olusina Olusegun
authors.initials: OO
authors.lastname: Akinyinka