ABSTRACT
Gender and age have been shown to influence the function and the regenerative processes in the peripheral and central olfactory pathways. However, the potential predictive value of either age or gender, for the recovery of olfaction after surgery has not been determined yet. The aim of this study was to objectively evaluate the prognostic value of age and gender for the postoperative olfactory performance of patients with extensive nasal polyposis who have been treated with endoscopic sinus surgery. This study involves 116 patients who have been evaluated before and 6 months after surgery with Sniffin' Sticks, a combined test battery for olfactory threshold, identification and discrimination. After statistical adjustment for baseline scores and potential confounders [duration of symptoms, smoking, previous surgery, allergic rhinitis, aspirin-exacerbated respiratory disease and gustatory impairment] gender was found to have no significant influence on the recovery of all olfactory indices. On the contrary, patients older than 55 years were found to recover significantly slower and less efficiently than patients who were less than 35 years old or patients 36-55 years old. Moreover patients older than 55 years seemed to have significantly less possibilities to regain normosmia than patients whose age was less than 55 years. Gender does not seem to have any prognostic value with regard to the postoperative olfactory performance. Old age, however, seems to represent a strong independent negative predictor for the recovery of olfaction and the achievement of normosmia