Olfactory Dysfunction is a Harbinger of Mortality: "We believe olfaction is the canary in the coalmine of human health"
Jayant M. Pinto, Kristen E. Wroblewski, David W. Kern, L. Philip Schumm, Martha K. McClintock
Jayant Pinto, MD, with one of the Sniffin' Sticks used to test a patient's ability to identify scents for his research on olfactory dysfunction and aging. (Robert Kozloff/The University of Chicago)
For older adults, being unable to identify scents is a strong predictor of death within five years, according to a study published in the journal PLOS ONE. Thirty-nine percent of study subjects who failed a simple smelling test died during that period, compared to 19 percent of those with moderate smell loss and just 10 percent of those with a healthy sense of smell.
The hazards of smell loss were "strikingly robust," the researchers note, above and beyond most chronic diseases. Olfactory dysfunction was better at predicting mortality than a diagnosis of heart failure, cancer or lung disease. Only severe liver damage was a more powerful predictor of death. For those already at high risk, lacking a sense of smell more than doubled the probability of death.
"We think loss of the sense of smell is like the canary in the coal mine," said the study's lead author Jayant M. Pinto, MD, an associate professor of surgery at the University of Chicago who specializes in the genetics and treatment of olfactory and sinus disease. "It doesn't directly cause death, but it's a harbinger, an early warning that something has gone badly wrong, that damage has been done. Our findings could provide a useful clinical test, a quick and inexpensive way to identify patients most at risk."
The study was part of the National Social Life, Health and Aging Project (NSHAP), the first in-home study of social relationships and health in a large, nationally representative sample of men and women ages 57 to 85.
In the first wave of NSHAP, conducted in 2005-06, professional survey teams from the independent research organization NORC at the University of Chicago used a well-validated test — adapted by Martha K. McClintock, PhD, the study's senior author — for this field survey of 3,005 participants. It measured their ability to identify five distinct common odors.
The modified smell tests used "Sniffin'Sticks," odor-dispensing devices that resemble a felt-tip pen but are loaded with aromas rather than ink. Subjects were asked to identify each smell, one at a time, from a set of four choices. The five odors, in order of increasing difficulty, were peppermint, fish, orange, rose and leather.
Measuring smell with this test, they learned that:
- Almost 78 percent of those tested were classified as "normosmic," having normal smelling; 45.5 percent correctly identified five out of five odors and 29 percent identified four out of five.
- Almost 20 percent were considered "hyposmic." They got two or three out of five correct.
- The remaining 3.5 percent were labelled "anosmic." They could identify just one of the five scents (2.4%), or none (1.1%).
The interviewers also assessed participants' age, physical and mental health, social and financial resources, education, and alcohol or substance abuse through structured interviews, testing and questionnaires. As expected, performance on the scent test declined steadily with age; 64 percent of 57-year-olds correctly identified all five smells. That fell to 25 percent of 85-year-olds.
In the second wave, during 2010-11, the survey team carefully confirmed which participants were still alive. During that five-year gap, 430 (12.5%) of the original 3005 study subjects had died; 2,565 were still alive.
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