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Patients with seasonal affective disorder have lower odor detection thresholds than control subjects
Teodor T Postolache1, Thomas A Wehr, Richard L Doty
1Section on Biological Rhythms, National Institute of Mental Health/NIH, 10 Center Dr, Room 3S-231, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA. postolache@nih.gov
Background:
Behavioral changes in patients with seasonal affective disorder resemble seasonal changes in photoperiodic animals. Because the olfactory system has a modulatory role in seasonal photoperiodic responses in certain species, we hypothesized that olfactory function may differ between patients with seasonal affective disorder and healthy control subjects.
Methods:
Fourteen patients who had winter seasonal affective disorder and 16 healthy volunteers were studied once in winter and once in the subsequent summer. We administered a phenyl ethyl alcohol detection threshold test to each side of the nose in a counterbalanced order, with the nostril contralateral to the tested site occluded. Patient and control data were compared using a 4-way repeated measure analysis of covariance (with group and gender as between-subjects factors, season and side-of-the-nose as within-subjects factors, and age as a covariate).
Results:
The patients exhibited lower thresholds than did the controls (F(1,25) = 9.2; P =.006). There was no main effect of season.
Conclusion:
In humans, marked seasonal behavioral rhythms with recurrent winter depression may be associated with a more acute sense of smell.