Does Celiac Disease Affect Smell Sensation, Mucociliary Clearance and Nasal Smear?

Objective: We aimed to evaluate olfactory function and nasal smear cytology in patients with celiac disease (CD) and healthy volunteers. Material and Methods: In this study, a total 74 subjects including 38 CD patients and 36 healthy controls were involved. CD has been verified by serological tests and small intestine biopsy. Sniffin Stick test was used to evaluate olfactory function. Nasal mucociliary clearance (MCC) time was measured with saccharin test. Neutrophils, eosinophils, basophilic and goblet cells were evauluted in nasal cytology. Sniffin test findings, MCC, nasal cytology and response to treatment with diet findings of CD patients and control group have been compared. Results: In CD group, normosmia was detected in 20 patients, and hiposmia in 17 patients. Total smell score (TDI) was 35±4 in control group, while it was 31±8 in CD group. The difference between two groups was statistically significant (p=0.009). While there was no statistically significant difference between the groups in terms of discrimination (DIS) and identification (ID) scores (p=0.277; p=0.960), the mean theroshold (THR) was found to be statistically significantly lower in the CD group (p=0.018). No evident difference has been determined between the two groups in terms of nasal MCC duration (p=0.948). While there was no statistically signicant difference in the average goblet cell grade, eosinophil, neutrophil, and lymphocyte grade average differences were significant (p=0.001). There was no statistically remarkable difference between diet compliant and non-diet compliant group in terms of THR, DIS, ID, and TDI scores (p>0.05). Conclusion: In our study, deterioration of nasal functions and nasal cytological findings-in particularly lymphocyte infiltration-makes it possible to think that CD group is a systemic disease that affects all organs, especially mucous membranes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]