From: sheriffcoltrane23x@gmail.com   
      
   Olfactory Dysfunction Linked to Amnestic MCI and AD    
   Pauline Anderson    
   November 23, 2015    
        
   A new study has added more detail to what is known already about the   
   connection between olfactory dysfunction and cognitive decline.    
      
   Results show that in elderly patients, impaired olfaction was associated with   
   incident amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) and with progression from   
   aMCI to Alzheimer's disease (AD) dementia.    
      
   "We found that impaired smell or impaired olfaction is a marker for   
   progressing from normal cognition to MCI, particularly for the amnestic type,   
   where we found a two-fold increased risk, and for progression from having   
   amnestic MCI, which we think is a    
   precursor for Alzheimer's disease, to actually developing Alzheimer's disease,   
   where we had a five-fold increased risk," said lead study author Rosebud   
   Roberts, MB, ChB, professor of epidemiology and neurology, Mayo Clinic,   
   Rochester, Minnesota.    
      
   Their results were published online November 16 in JAMA Neurology.    
      
   Previous studies have investigated the link between altered sense of smell and   
   dementia, but many of them were small and included volunteers or patients at   
   memory clinics.    
      
   This new study was larger, included randomly selected participants, and didn't   
   look just at dementia.    
      
   "A lot of other studies of olfactory function have focused on dementia; fewer   
   have focused on MCI," said Dr Roberts. "We wanted to take it a step earlier   
   and ask about the predementia stage; is it also a marker for developing   
   incident cognitive    
   impairment?"    
      
   As well, unlike other studies, this new one distinguished between aMCI and   
   nonamnestic MCI (naMCI).    
      
   "For these reasons, I think this study provides new and interesting insights,"   
   said Dr Roberts.    
      
   The study included 1630 cognitively normal participants enrolled in the   
   population-based prospective Mayo Clinic Study of Aging between 2004 and 2010.    
      
   Investigators evaluated these participants clinically at baseline and every 15   
   months to 2014. They assessed olfaction using the Brief Smell Identification   
   Test (B-SIT).    
      
   Scratch and Sniff    
      
   This test consists of six food-related and six non-food-related smells   
   (banana, chocolate, cinnamon, gasoline, lemon, onion, paint thinner,   
   pineapple, rose, soap, smoke, and turpentine). Study participants were asked   
   to scratch, sniff, and select one of    
   four possible responses.    
      
      
      
   Read More:    
      
   http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/854874    
      
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