THE NASAL mucosa is comparatively accessible and quite responsive to pharmacological and environmental changes.1-4 It seems unfortunate that so little effort is expended to use it as a meter of internal changes. In a series of intriguing articles on nasal pH, Fabricant5-7 showed that the pH of the nasal secretions varies with sleep, rest, the ingestion of food, emotion, and infection. He reemphasized the work of Tweedie8 and Buhrmester,9 who found that patients with a nasal pH of 6.5 or below always had negative bacterial cultures. Fabricant related this to the optimal pH of lysozyme and maintained that nasal sprays should have a slightly acid pH to reinforce the purposeful acid barrier against infection.6
The present study was designed to measure the nasal pH in a large group of persons in an effort to establish the pattern of normal changes that occur in the noses