This Article  • Full text  • PDF  • Reply to article  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Citation map  • Citing articles on HighWire  • Citing articles on Web of Science (127)  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Similar articles in this journal  Topic Collections  • Alzheimer Disease  • Movement Disorders  • Parkinson Disease/ Parkinsonian Disorders  • Alert me on articles by topic  Social Bookmarking   What's this?

A Meta-analysis of Olfactory Functioning in Alzheimer's and Parkinson's Diseases

Raquelle I. Mesholam; Paul J. Moberg, PhD; Richard N. Mahr, PsyD; Richard L. Doty, PhD

Arch Neurol. 1998;55:84-90.

Background  Olfactory deficits in Alzheimer's disease (AD) and idiopathic Parkinson's disease (PD) have been well established.

Objective  To clarify and review the literature by evaluating the evidence for olfactory deficits in 3 olfactory domains, including odor identification, recognition, and detection threshold.

Data Sources  A literature search of English-language studies of olfaction in AD, PD, and healthy controls was conducted via online databases (PsycInfo and MEDLINE) and reference lists from review articles.

Study Selection  To meet selection criteria for meta-analysis, each study required a control group and complete and usable data. This review yielded 26 publications of olfactory identification, recognition, and/or detection threshold. Because of the inclusion of more than 1 relevant study of olfaction in several of these publications (eg, both identification and threshold assessed), 43 studies were ultimately appropriate for meta-analysis.

Data Extraction  Effect sizes were calculated for each study by expressing differences between patient and control group means in SD units (Cohen's d).

Data Synthesis  Extremely large effect sizes were shown across all tasks in both AD and PD groups. Both between-group analyses using the Mann-Whitney U test and within-group analyses using Friedman 2-way analysis of variance did not reveal any significant differences (all P>.30).

Conclusions  As expected, severe deficits were found for both patients with AD and PD in each of the 3 olfactory domains relative to controls. However, no discriminating olfactory deficits were seen between patient groups or among the 3 measured olfactory domains, suggesting a similar disturbance in olfactory function between patients with AD and PD.

From the Department of Psychology, Drexel University (Ms Mesholam), Brain-Behavior Laboratory, Department of Psychiatry (Ms Mesholam and Drs Moberg and Mahr), and Smell and Taste Center, Department of Otorhinolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery (Dr Doty), University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, Pa.

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter     What's this?

THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES

Olfactory Function in Corticobasal Syndrome and Frontotemporal Dementia
Pardini et al.
Arch Neurol 2009;66:92-96.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Variant Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor (Val66Met) Alters Adult Olfactory Bulb Neurogenesis and Spontaneous Olfactory Discrimination
Bath et al.
J. Neurosci. 2008;28:2383-2393.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Olfactory Identification and Incidence of Mild Cognitive Impairment in Older Age
Wilson et al.
Arch Gen Psychiatry 2007;64:802-808.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

A Proposed Approach for Setting Occupational Exposure Limits for Sensory Irritants Based on Chemosensory Models
Gaffney and Paustenbach
ANN OCCUP HYG 2007;0:mem019v1.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Olfactory Ability in the Healthy Population: Reassessing Presbyosmia
Mackay-Sim et al.
Chem Senses 2006;31:763-771.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Disgust-specific impairment of facial expression recognition in Parkinson's disease
Suzuki et al.
Brain 2006;129:707-717.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Clinical Studies of Olfaction
Doty
Chem Senses 2005;30:i207-i209.
FULL TEXT  

Olfactory Function in Mild Cognitive Impairment and Alzheimer's Disease: An Investigation Using Psychophysical and Electrophysiological Techniques
Peters et al.
Am. J. Psychiatry 2003;160:1995-2002.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Olfactory dysfunction in degenerative ataxias
Connelly et al.
J. Neurol. Neurosurg. Psychiatry 2003;74:1435-1437.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Evidence for Deficiencies in Perceptual and Semantic Olfactory Processes in Parkinson's Disease
Hudry et al.
Chem Senses 2003;28:537-543.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Identifying the Pattern of Olfactory Deficits in Parkinson Disease Using the Brief Smell Identification Test
Double et al.
Arch Neurol 2003;60:545-549.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Clinical correlates of selective pathology in the amygdala of patients with Parkinson's disease
Harding et al.
Brain 2002;125:2431-2445.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

The Pocket Smell Test: Successfully Discriminating Probable Alzheimer's Dementia From Vascular Dementia and Major Depression
Duff et al.
J. Neuropsychiatry Clin. Neurosi. 2002;14:197-201.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging of Odor Identification: The Effect of Aging
Suzuki et al.
Journals of Gerontology Series A: Biological Sciences and Medical Sciences 2001;56:M756-760.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

New variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease presenting with loss of taste and smell
REUBER et al.
J. Neurol. Neurosurg. Psychiatry 2001;71:412-413.
FULL TEXT  

Anosmia in dementia is associated with Lewy bodies rather than Alzheimer's pathology
McShane et al.
J. Neurol. Neurosurg. Psychiatry 2001;70:739-743.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Inherited Alzheimer's disease PS-1 olfactory function: A 10-year follow-up study
Nee and Lippa
AM J ALZHEIMERS DIS OTHER DEMEN 2001;16:83-84.
ABSTRACT  

Olfactory Deficits in Patients With Mild Cognitive Impairment Predict Alzheimer's Disease at Follow-Up
Devanand et al.
Am. J. Psychiatry 2000;157:1399-1405.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Odor Identification: Influences of Age, Gender, Cognition, and Personality
Larsson et al.
Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Science 2000;55:304P-310.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Olfactory Dysfunction Discriminates Probable Alzheimer's Dementia From Major Depression: A Cross-Validation and Extension
McCaffrey et al.
J. Neuropsychiatry Clin. Neurosi. 2000;12:29-33.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Impaired olfaction as a marker for cognitive decline: Interaction with apolipoprotein E {epsilon}4 status
Graves et al.
Neurology 1999;53:1480-1480.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT