The relationship of skin temperature to the nasal cycle in normal subjects

Nasal airway resistance and skin temperature at the cheek, nose and forearm were measured at 30-min intervals over a period of 7 h in six healthy subjects (age 22-25 years). Right and left skin temperature measurements were made with an infrared thermometer, and right and left nasal airway resistance was measured by active posterior rhinomanometry. Three of the six subjects exhibited what has previously been described as a nasal cycle with spontaneous reciprocal changes in nasal airway resistance. There was a highly significant negative correlation between right and left nasal airway resistance in these subjects (r = 0.64 to -0.78). In contrast to the nasal airway resistance the right and left skin temperatures had highly significant positive correlations (r = 0.74 to 0.93), which demonstrates that the skin temperature changes on each side of the body occurred in parallel with no evidence of a reciprocal relationship. The results indicate that in normal healthy subjects there is no relationship between nasal airway resistance and skin temperature despite the fact that both are controlled by sympathetic vasoconstrictor nerves.