‘Aging is like a bouquet of memories, but what happens when the scent starts to fade?’ That’s the question researchers sought to answer as they investigated the connection between olfactory dysfunction and mild cognitive impairment (MCI) in older adults. The study, conducted with a cohort of community-dwelling older adults, found that impaired sense of smell is associated with an early stage of neurocognitive disorder known as amnestic MCI (aMCI). In fact, individuals with aMCI displayed significantly lower scores on a smell identification test compared to those with normal aging or non-amnestic MCI. The results suggest that olfactory impairment could serve as a potential marker for early detection of cognitive decline. By utilizing a locally developed smell test, clinicians and researchers may be able to screen individuals before initiating interventions or clinical trials. Curious to learn more? Dive into the fascinating research behind the fading scents and unravel the mysteries of memory!

BackgroundOlfactory impairment is aging related and is associated with cognitive decline in older adults. However, it remains unclear if an olfactory impairment is associated with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and the degree of impairment in the MCI subtypes.Materials and methodsIn a cohort of community-living older adults aged 60 years and above, 670 participants were recruited from the Community Health and Intergenerational (CHI) Study. Olfactory function was assessed using a locally developed nine-item smell test in association with neurocognitive assessments. Analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) was used to examine the association of smell identification score and clinical cognitive status while considering demographic, clinical, and neuropsychological factors with Bonferroni correction for group comparisons.ResultsAge-related smell detection between normal aging (NA) and MCI participants had no significant difference. The overall mean smell identification score in older adults was negatively correlated with age. The mean smell identification score of MCI participants was also not significantly different as compared with NA, but an amnestic MCI multiple domain (aMCI_MD) subgroup had significantly lower (impaired) mean smell identification scores compared with the NA and MCI single domain (amnestic and non-amnestic) group.ConclusionThis study demonstrated that olfactory identification impairment is a comorbidity in older adults with amnestic MCI (aMCI) and is a potential marker associated with an early stage of a neurocognitive disorder. The smell test could act as a screening tool to help in the early detection of smell impairment for heterogeneous syndromes of MCI among community-dwelling older adults. Clinicians and researchers could benefit from utilizing the locally developed smell test to screen their patients or research participants before the initiation of an appropriate health intervention or in a clinical trial.

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