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anosmia
Inability to smell. May be partial, general or specific.
Etiology:
- finding common in alpha-synucleinopathy
- Alzheimer's disease
Complications:
- nearly double the rate of some types of accidents
a) cooking-related accidents [2]
b) exposure to an undetected fire or gas* leak
c) eating or drinking spoiled foods or toxic substances
- anosmia increases 5-year risk of mortality in the elderly 5-fold [2,4]
- may be risk factor for Parkinson's disease (mostly in older white men) [3]
* Gas is odorless, but the gas company adds a warning 'rotten-egg' smell (mercaptan or a similar sulfur-based compound) that can be easily detected by most people.
Related
dysosmia
General
olfactory disorder
sign/symptom
References
- Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine, 12th ed.
Isselbacher et al (eds), McGraw-Hill Inc. NY,
1991, pg 151
- Pinto JM et al.
Olfactory dysfunction predicts 5-year mortality in older adults.
PLoS ONE 2014 Oct 1; 9:e107541
PMID: 25271633
- Chen H, Shrestha S, Huang X et al.
Olfaction and incident Parkinson disease in US white and
black older adults.
Neurology 2017 Sep 6
PMID: 28878051
- Liu B, Luo S, Pinto JM et al
Relationship Between Poor Olfaction and Mortality Among
Community-Dwelling Older Adults: A Cohort Study/
Ann Intern Med. 2019. April 30.
PMID: 31035288
https://annals.org/aim/article-abstract/2732078/relationship-between-poor-olfaction-mortality-among-community-dwelling-older-adults
- Kamath V, Leff B
Mortality Risk in Older Adults: What the Nose Knows.
Ann Intern Med. 2019. April 30.
PMID: 31035295
https://annals.org/aim/article-abstract/2732079/mortality-risk-older-adults-what-nose-knows
- Loss of smell almost doubles chance of accident
http://www.nidcd.nih.gov/health/smelltaste/smell_accident.asp