Open AccessSystematic Review: The Rhinological Manifestations in Women
Author(s) -
PaceAsciak Pia,
Kozak Frederick K.,
Chadha Neil K.
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
otolaryngology–head and neck surgery
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.232
H-Index - 121
eISSN - 1097-6817
pISSN - 0194-5998
DOI - 10.1177/0194599812451438a256
Subject(s) - medicine , pregnancy , olfaction , menopause , nose , medical literature , disease , dermatology , gynecology , surgery , pathology , genetics , neuroscience , biology
Objective 1) To understand the current evidence between the effects of pregnancy, postpartum, menopause, contraception, and hormone replacement therapy (HRT) on diseases of the nose. 2) To appraise the level of evidence in the current literature. Method Systematic search strategy using PubMed (1966‐2011) and EMBASE (1980‐2011) was done to study diseases of the nose in women during different stages of life. Study appraisal and data extraction were performed independently by 2 authors. The level of evidence was categorized according to the Oxford Center of Evidence‐Based Medicine. Results Titles and abstracts of 1005 studies from PubMed and 1756 studies from EMBASE were reviewed, resulting in 429 being retrieved. Included articles were categorized as related to pregnancy, postpartum, menopause, contraception, or hormone replacement therapy with the following findings: Pregnancy: changes reported in olfaction (12 studies), allergy (30 studies), rhinitis (25 studies), epistaxis (8 studies), tumor growth (31 studies), Wegener’s (23 studies), and Churg‐Strauss disease (8 studies); Postpartum: effects included allergic rhinitis (20 studies), altered olfaction (7 studies), choanal atresia with drug ingestion (5 studies), and nasal tumors (8 studies); Menstruation: alteration in olfaction (17 studies), rhinitis (7 studies), and allergy (3 studies); Menopause: rhinitis (5 studies); HRT: alteration in olfaction (3 studies), and rhinitis (11 studies); and Estrogen therapy: considered for recurrent epistaxis (15 studies). Conclusion The various stages of life in women have been shown to have impact on nasal pathophysiology, altering olfaction and increasing epistaxis, allergic symptoms, tumor growth, and auto‐immune disease.