Researchers have found that a poor sense of smell is a better indicator of an increased risk of dementia than almost any other factor, including, age, education and other diseases, the New York Times writes.
Poor Olfactory Functions Doubles Risk of Dementia
Among 2,906 male and female subjects ages 57 to 85 in the study, recently published in the Journal of the American Geriatric Society, 4.1% developed dementia five years later, according to the publication. The researchers found that the only factors that correlated with a higher risk of developing dementia were a poor sense of smell and the subjects’ cognitive ability at the beginning of the survey, the New York Times writes. Subjects who had difficulty identifying odors were twice as likely to develop dementia as those with no impairments, according to the study. And even those with regular cognitive ability but with olfactory impairments were twice as likely to develop dementia, the New York Times writes.
The study also took into account sex, race and ethnicity, but none of those factors indicated impending dementia quite as well, according to the publication.
The risk of dementia increased with the number of odors the subjects couldn’t identify, the New York Times writes. The researchers tested the subjects on their ability to smell fish, orange, leather, peppermint and rose, according to the publication.
Dr. Jayant M. Pinto, a sinus and nasal diseases specialist at the University of Chicago, tells the New York Times that the smell test isn’t a “single-variable” way to detect a risk of dementia. Nonetheless, he suggests that people whose sensory functions start to deteriorate seek out testing, according to the publication.
