Losing a Sense of Smell

“Losing a sense of smell may be harbinger of death, study finds”

By: Lauren Raab

Source: La Times

http://touch.latimes.com/#section/621/article/p2p-81568923/

  Losing a sense of smell is a strong predictor that death may be near. It can also be an early alert about some serious health problems. It was published this week in journal PLOS One that those who fail a smelling test were likely to die within five years. Losing a sense of smell is a factor that this may cause some serious warning for health problems. It does not cause death but it may be a factor for major problems in the future. In a study researchers gave a smelling test to about 3,000 people between the ages of fifty seven to eighty five. Volunteers were presented with five odors: peppermint, fish, orange, rose and leather. They asked the volunteers to identify each smell. Researchers have provided four possible answers for each scent for the volunteers to choose one. Five years later researchers have checked back with the same volunteers. Around 40% of the people failed the test. They either identified as no smell or picked the incorrect scent. That is being compared with the 19% of those who correctly identified two or three smells. Results were adjusted for age, gender, race, overall health, and socioeconomic status. Smell test was still a strong predictor of five year mortality. It was stronger predictor than emphysema, cancer, heart attack, stroke, diabetes, or congestive heart failure.  It is still unclear how sense of smell is related to mortality. The study also did not examine the causes of death of volunteers who passed away.

  This article is important to read because it shows new ways of how losing smell can cause health problems. The audience that read this article can see how important losing scent can be. Researchers have done many tests and experiments to see how losing smell can affect a person with their life or other health problems.