Age-Related Deficits in Taste and Smell

Disturbances in both the ability to smell and to taste are common in older persons. Such disturbances influence nutrition, safety, quality of life, and psychological and physical health. The anatomic and physiologic causes of age-related disturbances are multiple and interacting and depend on genetic and environmental factors. Frank losses of function, distortions, and hallucinations are common. Most distortions resolve over time, although this can take months or even years. Olfactory dysfunction occurs during the earliest stages of several neurologic disorders, most notably Alzheimer disease and Parkinson disease, likely heralding the onset of the underlying pathologies.