Poor smell sense a sign post for Alzheimer’s Disease
A sense of smell – or lack of it – may be an early sign that people have a decline in thinking, learning, and memory which could precede Alzheimer’s disease.
According to research published in the Archives of General Psychiatry, a study of 589 adults with an average age of almost 80 who did not have cognitive impairment, was conducted.
They were given a smell identification test in which 12 familiar odours were presented, were then asked to match each of the odours to four options and were scored from one to 12.
The risk of developing the condition increased as odour recognition decreased.
Those with the lowest scores in the test – below eight – were 50% more likely to develop the disease. Over the following five years 177 people (30%) developed mild cognitive impairment.
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