Effects of Female Sex Hormone Therapy on Nasal Mucosa

Women worldwide commonly use combined oral contraceptives (COCs) and hormone replacement therapy(HRT). Nevertheless, there is still ambiguity regarding the possible influence of these hormone therapy on the nasal mucosa. A systematic review was performed according to PRISMA guidelines. We included publications analyzing how hormonal imbalance affects the nasal mucosa in women taking oral contraceptives or sex hormone replacement therapy. An electronic database search was conducted using PubMed (MEDLINE), The Cochrane Library, ClinicalTrials.gov for the identification of articles. The search used a combination of the following keywords: «rhinitis», «drug-reduced rhinitis», «oral contraceptive», «menopausal hormone replacement therapy». Our search of electronic date databases yielded 1016 articles; 7 studies were included in this systematic review. In the studies we analyzed, 5 studies assessed the effect of COCs on the occurrence of rhinitis and 2 assessing the impact of HRT. Histological results of the studies confirmed the changes in the nasal mucosa of patients taking oral contraceptives or sex hormone replacement therapy. Our systematic review reviewed the evidence on the effects of sex hormone therapy on the nasal mucosa. Estrogens exert a variety of effects on various organs, including the nasal mucosa via specific receptors, but the presence of ERs does not necessarily mean that they play a key role in all processes in the nasal mucosa. It may be that ERs only fulfil an auxiliary function or are involved in certain conditions - therefore, this systematic review provides a wide field for further research.