WebMD Medical News Louise Chang, MD May 7, 2006 -- People with
lupus may be more likely to have a diminished sense of smell, a
new study says. The finding may be significant, Israeli
researchers say, because a loss of smell could be a symptom that
would help doctors make an earlier diagnosis of lupus and other
diseases. Olfactory dysfunction is known to exist in various
central nervous system disorders, such as Parkinson’s disease,
Alzheimer’s, schizophrenia, and multiple sclerosis. The study,
led by Yehuda Shoenfeld, MD, of Chaim Sheba Medical Center in
Tel-Hashomer, Israel, involved 100 people, half of whom had
systemic lupus erythematosus, or SLE, and half that did not have
the disease. Lupus, an autoimmune disease, happens when the
immune system attacks healthy tissues, causing inflammation,
swelling, pain, and damage. The researchers examined olfactory
function (ability to smell) with three distinct “Sniffin Sticks”
tests. In one, people were asked to identify a stick with an
odor from sticks that had no