Clinical study of olfactory disturbance

The clinical records of 889 patients with olfactory disturbance who had bee n examined at the Olfaction Clinic, Osaka City University Hospital, Japan f rom January 1982 to December 1996 were studied in order to investigate the relationship between the patients' characteristics and their prognoses. Aet iologically the characteristic variables of "head trauma" and "congenital" had the greatest influence on prognosis, representing poor recovery. The pa tients with "rhinitis" and "head trauma" showed faster improvement of olfac tory disturbance in "females", "those with short duration of olfactory diso rder" and "those with high olfactory acuity before treatment". None of the characteristic variables influenced prognosis in the patients with "viral i nfection". Age did not significantly influence prognosis. Improvement was r ecognized in most patients within 6 months. Hence, we should treat patients with olfactory disturbance for at least this length of time.