Age-Related Cognitive Decline and the Olfactory Identification Deficit Are Associated to Increased Level of Depression.

PURPOSE: Previous studies reported a correlation between olfactory function and depression. However, in literature, no data are available for the correlation between depression and all other factors such as age, sex, olfactory, gustatory, and cognitive function in healthy subjects taken together. The aim of this study was to provide a systematic account regarding the association between those variables in a non-clinical population. METHODS: Two hundred and seventy-three participants were recruited with an age range of 19-84 years. Olfactory, gustatory, cognitive function, and depression level were evaluated by means of the following tests: the Sniffin' Sticks test, Taste Strips test, Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA), and Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). RESULTS: In our data, an age-related decrease in olfactory and gustatory function and a decline in cognitive functions such as attention, memory, and language were observed. Instead, no significant differences were observed for the depression level in relation to the different age ranges. However, our results indicated that the depression level could be associated to sex, odor identification impairment, and decreased attention and language. CONCLUSION: Sex, the odor identification impairment, and an age-related decrease in attention and language are associated with increased level of depression in healthy subjects. Our data can be useful and informative for health care workers, that is, to have adequate preventive strategies to be used whenever these conditions are detected and recognized.

Olfactory Function Is Impaired in Patients with Mastocytosis.

BACKGROUND: Mastocytosis is a clinically heterogeneous disorder associated with abnormal mast cell accumulation in different organs. No data are available as regards the assessment of olfactory function and its association with mastocytosis. OBJECTIVE: The aim of the study was first to investigate odor threshold, discrimination, and identification in patients with mastocytosis compared with age-matched healthy controls (HC), and furthermore, to correlate olfactory function with the other clinical symptoms of mastocytosis. METHODS: Eighty-one participants were enrolled: 41 patients with mastocytosis (23 males and 18 females; mean age, 47.95 years; standard deviation [SD], 14.7 years) were compared with 40 HC (23 males and 17 females; mean age, 47.88 years; SD, 14.6 years). Olfactory function among participants was evaluated using the "Sniffin' Sticks" test for odor detection threshold (OT), odor discrimination (OD), and odor identification (OI). RESULTS: Patients with systemic mastocytosis showed a significant decrease in the total olfactory function (Threshold-Discrimination-Identification [TDI] score), OT, OD, and OI compared with HC. A significant negative correlation was observed only between TDI score and serum tryptase concentration (µg/L). No correlation was observed between disease duration versus OT, OD, OI, and TDI score. CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that the olfactory function is impaired in patients compared with HC; a significant negative correlation was found between TDI score and the level of serum tryptase. Olfactory dysfunction in mastocytosis may be considered among the clinical manifestations contributing to the burden of this disease.

Global study of variability in olfactory sensitivity.

Variability in human olfactory sensitivity has been attributed to individual-level factors such as genetics, age, sex, medical history of infections and trauma, neurogenerative diseases, and emotional disorders. Scarce evidence exists on the cross-cultural variation in olfactory sensitivity. Hence, we performed 2 studies to estimate the variability in olfactory threshold as a function of location and environment. Study 1 involved 11 laboratories from 4 continents (N = 802). In each location, in a designated laboratory, approximately 80 subjects underwent olfactory sensitivity testing with custom-made tests with eucalyptol and phenylethanol (PEA) odors. Tests were based on the Threshold subtest of the Sniffin' Sticks battery. In Study 2, we compared olfactory sensitivity and suprathreshold perception of PEA and eucalyptol in 2 Chinese (N = 160) and 2 Indian (N = 92) populations-one based in their native country and the other in Germany. Both studies present large-scale evidence that olfactory sensitivity varies as a function of geographical location and suggest that environmental factors play an important role in shaping olfactory sensitivity and suprathreshold olfactory perception. We delineate further steps necessary to identify specific factors underlying uncovered variability and the relationship between olfactory sensitivity and suprathreshold odor perception. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Effect of Olfactory and Gustatory Dysfunction and Motor Symptoms on Body Weight in Patients with Parkinson's Disease.

BACKGROUND: Non-motor symptoms in Parkinson's disease (PD) are often associated with a negative impact on the patients' quality of life and on their weight regulation. The aim of this study was to assess the effect of olfactory and gustatory dysfunction, apathy, fatigue, depression, and motor symptoms on weight regulation in PD patients. METHODS: We analyzed 112 participants, 63 PD patients (mean age ± SD: 69.2 ± 10.1), and 49 controls (mean age ± SD: 68 ± 9.6). For each participant we collected age, weight, height, BMI, olfactory and gustatory function, cognitive performance, apathy and fatigue. RESULTS: Our data showed that 61.9% (n = 39) of PD patients had hyposmia, while 38.1% (n = 24) had anosmia. In PD patients, we observed a significant effect of Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS), apathy, odor threshold, sweet perception and fatigue on weight regulation. Instead, there was no significant effect for depression and levodopa equivalent daily dosage (LEDD). CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that PD non-motor symptoms such as olfactory/gustatory deficits and mood disorders may influence body weight.