How sad, when the scent of spring flowers attracts passing unnoticed. What a pity, if the fine flavor of fresh asparagus is no longer perceived. But the loss of the sense of smell can, at least, can be highly the age a lot more than just a nuisance, reported by researchers from the epidemiologist Honglei Chen of the Michigan State University currently in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine. The Team observed that the risk of death for subjects with impaired smell sense was, within ten years, 46 percent higher than for peers with a good understanding of the olfactory bulb.
Chen and colleagues examined the sense of smell of 2289 subjects; these were at the beginning of the study, between 71 and 82 years old. The researchers observed that in a subset of participants with a limited sense of smell, after ten years, even with a 62 percent increased risk of death stock of all those who had enjoyed at the beginning of the investigation of a particularly good health. One explanation the researchers do not have.
“is The extent of surprising,” says the neurologist Daniela Berg of the University hospital Schleswig-Holstein, Kiel, Germany. Especially since the researchers observed the difference throughout men and women, in African-Americans as well as Americans of European origin.
long-Term consequences
previous studies have examined the consequences of a dysosmia of age. A 36 percent increased risk of death for elderly people with a limited sense of smell had identified other scientists in a study in the year 2010. One of the authors of the current work was to investigate the correlation already over a period of five years.
In the current study, the researchers observed their subjects any longer. “Therefore, you can say more about the long-term consequences of olfactory dysfunction, as well as to their possible causes, says Antje Hähner, a Doctor and a scientist to Smell at the Interdisciplinary centre “and Taste” of the clinic for otorhinolaryngology of the University hospital Dresden.
In a separate study, the Physician has demonstrated with colleagues that about ten percent of patients with unclear olfactory dysfunction are diagnosed within ten years of Parkinson’s disease. In the current work, neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s disease or dementia explained 22 percent of the higher mortality risk of older people with Dysosmia within ten years; and in six percent of cases, the researchers were able to account for a weight loss as the cause. “In the present study, the correlation with neuro-shows degenerative diseases, particularly significantly,” says Hähner.
the olfactory tests for early diagnosis
How to explain? In the smell structures of the brain, pathological changes occur in the sick, long before the typical symptoms of dementia or Parkinson’s disease notice. Therefore, many clinics already offer olfactory tests for early diagnosis.
Chen and colleagues even suspect that a lack of smell could be the sense of a common, early Marker for a deterioration of the health of old people. Even more important is to check the function of the nose. Especially since many of the people don’t even notice when the scent of spring, or the dinner gets to you. (Editorial Tamedia)
Created: 01.05.2019, 21:30 PM
