A symptom related to smell can signal the onset of dementia

0

Nerves in the nasal cavity sends signals to the brain to warn about this or that smell. The sense of smell deteriorates with age. However, if a person loses the ability to distinguish one smell from another, for example, the smell of vanilla from the smell of cinnamon, this can be an early sign of dementia.

However, such a symptom often appears years before a noticeable decline in cognitive functions, it says in a research paper published in Current Allergy and Asthma Reports.

Losing your sense of smell can be temporary, such as from a cold, flu or the coronavirus, but it usually comes back. However, according to a Frontiers in Neuroscience study, a poor ability to distinguish one odor from another is associated with a significantly increased risk of dementia later in life.

“We don't know enough about what changes in smell might mean for overall risk person,” said Devanger P. Devanand, professor of psychiatry and neurology at Columbia University Medical Center.

He noted that about 4% of the population cannot identify smells since childhood, but this has nothing to do with mental retardation. At the same time, the expert confirmed that mild memory impairments are often accompanied by changes in smell recognition.

Doctors and scientists recommend undergoing diagnostics of cognitive functions of the brain in case of detection of problems related to smell in old age. This can lead to an early diagnosis of dementia and the initiation of appropriate treatment that slows down the progression of the disease.