Alterations in Smell During Pregnancy: Myth or Fact?

To compare the olfactory functions of pregnant and non pregnant females draining the tribal tertiary care centre. Odor identification (OI), odor discrimination (OD) and odor threshold (OT) in subjects and control group with no previous Sino-nasal symptoms or pathology were included in the study. Mean scores of all the parameters were calculated in both the groups. Group A being of 60 pregnant females in 1st trimester and Group B constituted 60 non pregnant females as control group. Both the groups were matched for Age and Normal Mucociliary clearance range. Modified Indian Smell Identification Kit was used to assess all parameters. Before doing objective olfactory assessment all the study participants were given questionnaire for subjective assessment of olfaction in which we found significant impairment in drinking beverage and fragrance perception of flowers in pregnant females compared to non pregnant females. We also found there was no significant difference in mean scores of various olfactory parameters in multigravida and non pregnant females. The mean OI score in both groups was 9.54 ± 1.87 and 8.70 ± 1.62 respectively. Mean OD score of the two groups was 8.80 ± 2.61 and 9.80 ± 2.61 respectively and the mean OT score of both the groups was 6.99 ± 4.63 and 4.13 ± 2.48 respectively.