Sense of Smell and Parkinson's Disease

Filed in archive Men's Health , Parkinson's Disease , Studies on March 23, 2008

In the earliest stage of Parkinson's disease, impaired sense of smell can occur. So that this means that an impaired sense of smell indicate the development of Parkinson's disease?





According to researchers, smell impairment can precede the development of PD in men by at least four years.

The results showed that an odor identification deficit can predate the development of PD by at least four years, although it was not a strong predictor beyond this time period. Decreased odor identification was associated with older age, smoking, more coffee consumption, less frequent bowel movements, lower cognitive function and Excessive Daytime Sleepiness, but even after adjusting for these factors, those with the lowest olfactory scores, meaning they had the poorest odor identification, had a five times greater risk of developing PD than those with the highest scores.

"One interpretation of this finding is that the relationship of olfactory deficits to higher risk of future PD begins to weaken beyond a threshold of approximately four years between testing and diagnosis," the authors state.

Caught your attention, didn't I? Read on.

Hope everyone of you had a great Easter!!