Journal
JOURNAL OF ALZHEIMERS DISEASE
Volume 63, Issue 1, Pages 319-329Publisher
IOS PRESS
DOI: 10.3233/JAD-170863
Keywords
Adults; Alzheimer's disease; cognition; olfaction; population-based
Categories
Funding
- German Ministry of Education and Science (BMBF)
- German Aero-space Center [Deutsches Zentrum fur Luft- und Raumfahrt (DLR)], Bonn, Germany
- German Research Council (DFG) [ER 155/6-2, SI 236/8-1, SI 236/9-1]
- Else Kroner-Fresenius-Stiftung [2015_A119]
- Heinz Nixdorf Foundation
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Background: There is strong evidence for an association of olfactory dysfunction and neurodegenerative diseases. Studies on the association of olfaction and cognition in the general population are rare. Objective: To evaluate gender-and age-specific associations of olfactory function and cognitive performance in a well characterized population-based study sample. Methods: At the third examination of the Heinz Nixdorf Recall study (n = 3,087), 2,640 participants (48% men; 68.2 +/- 7.2 years) underwent Sniffin' Sticks Screening Test measuring olfactory function on a scale of 0-12 points. Olfactory function was rated as anosmic, hyposmic, or normosmic (<= 6, 7-10 or >= 11 points, respectively). All participants performed eight validated cognitive subtests. Age- (55-64 years, 65-74 years, 75-86 years) and gender-stratified multivariate analysis of covariance was used to evaluate group differences in cognitive performance. Results: Women showed better olfactory function than men (p < 0.001). For middle-aged participants, olfactory groups differed in almost all cognitive subtests. The analyses revealed no gender effects, although associations were slightly greater for women than for men. Anosmics showed the worst cognitive performance and normosmics showed the best cognitive performance. In the young-and old-aged groups, a quantitative association was found for anosmics in all subtests and for normosmics and hyposmics in almost all subtests. Conclusion: This is the first study reporting on age-specific associations of olfactory function and cognitive performance in the general population. The association found in middle-aged participants (65-74 years) may serve as a marker to improve identification of persons at high risk for cognitive decline and dementia.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available