| Title: | "The influence of sex, allergic rhinitis, and test system on nasal sensitivity to airborne irritants: a pilot study" |
| Author(s): | Shusterman D; Murphy MA; Balmes J; |
| Address: | "Division of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, California 94804, USA. dennis@itsa.ucsf.edu" |
| ISSN/ISBN: | 0091-6765 (Print) 0091-6765 (Linking) |
| Abstract: | "'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" |
| Keywords: | "1-Propanol/administration & dosage Adolescent Adult Air Pollution, Indoor/*adverse effects Carbon Dioxide/administration & dosage Chemoreceptor Cells/drug effects/*physiology Environmental Exposure Female Humans Male Organic Chemicals/adverse effects Pilo;" |
| Notes: | "MedlineShusterman, D Murphy, M A Balmes, J eng K08 DC00121/DC/NIDCD NIH HHS/ Clinical Trial Randomized Controlled Trial Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S. 2001/02/15 Environ Health Perspect. 2001 Jan; 109(1):15-9. doi: 10.1289/ehp.0110915" |
