Since 1999, Graves and colleagues, in a community-based study, showed that olfactory identification could be a predictor of cognitive decline, fact that have been elucidated by other investigations such as those by Schubet et al., Devand, and Kreisi. However, community studies have shown that olfactory impairment is associated with an increased incidence in cognitive impairment in the general population suggesting that impaired olfactory functioning in older adults may not be due solely to changes in the respiratory epithelium. Olfactory loss is accompanied by structural abnormalities of the olfactory epithelium the olfactory bulb and the central olfactory cortices found that the surface of the olfactory epithelium decreased during aging because of frequent presence of metaplastic respiratory epithelium, which could explain the age-related decline in olfaction. Thus, 10% of people older than 65 years have some form of olfactory dysfunction ranging from mild loss to anosmia affecting 62 to 80% of persons older than 80 years. Epidemiological studies show that the prevalence and severity of olfactory dysfunction increase with age. It is well established that normal aging is often accompanied by a decline in smell functioning. Including the Spanish population by Delgado-Losada et al. A lot of evidence of test validity and reliability has been obtained in other cultures and languages. Compared with other measures of olfactory performance, odor identification is a high-level cognitive operation, with greater cognitive load. Several studies indicate that the Olfactory Identification Test alone may function as a screening test for olfactory dysfunction or follow-up of olfactory function, and they are more feasible to apply in clinical practice. Olfactory threshold represents the level of odor detection at low concentration, meaning the least detectable concentrations of odorant that can be perceived, whereas discrimination is the distinction of different odors, while identification refers to the ability to name or associate an odor. Olfactory capacity is evaluated through tests that measure threshold, discrimination, and identification of odors. Less than a quarter of individuals with OD are conscious of their deficit until tested. It has been suggested that the malnutrition associated with age is due OD alone or associated with taste alteration derived by retronasal olfactory alterations. In patients with olfactory dysfunction (OD), an impact is usually observed on activities of daily living (ADLs), personal hygiene, safety, and sexual behavior. Nonetheless, other senses such as hearing or sight are routinely screened in clinical practice in order to detect issues that may impact quality of life, extension that is not bestowed to the olfactory sense, leading to a number of olfactory dysfunction to go unnoticed. Until today, the sense of smell is one of the least explored senses of human nature and much of its functions have yet to be clarified. These findings further our current understanding of the association between cognition and olfaction, and support olfactory assessment in screening those at higher risk of dementia. Performance in odor identification is associated with impairment of episodic memory and executive functions. Olfactory identification decreases with cognitive function. The predictive ability of olfactory identification scores for the risk of mild and severe impairment is around 80%. Our results indicate an age-associated decline in olfactory identification ability and intensity of odor perception. The participants were divided into groups based on their cutoff scores of previous scientific reports about the Spanish version of Montreal Cognitive Assessment. For this purpose, a group of 149 participants (77.15 ± 7.29 years 73 women of 76.7 ± 8 years and 76 men of 77.6 ± 6.52 years) were recruited and were subjected to a sociodemographic questionnaire, a psychological screening tool of general cognitive status, an olfactory identification evaluation, and clinical measures. The objectives were (i) to elucidate the associations between cognitive status and olfactory identification performance in aging (ii) understand the predictive value of olfactory capacity in identifying subjects with cognitive impairment risk and (iii) to study how cognitive status and olfactory identification relate with other variables of wellness in aging, such as functional capabilities and clinical measures. Multiple studies have considered the use of odor identification as a measure to identify the conversion from normality to mild cognitive impairment or dementia. Olfactory identification may be a predictor for cognitive impairment. Several studies indicate that the olfactory identification test alone may function as a screening test for olfactory dysfunction and they are more feasible to apply in clinical practice. Aging contributes to the deterioration of the olfactory system in humans.
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