1. Prevalence of smell loss in Parkinson's disease – A multicenter study
- Author
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Haehner, A., Boesveldt, S., Berendse, H.W., Mackay-Sim, A., Fleischmann, J., Silburn, P.A., Johnston, A.N., Mellick, G.D., Herting, B., Reichmann, H., and Hummel, T.
- Subjects
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SMELL disorders , *PARKINSON'S disease patients , *DISEASE prevalence , *OLFACTOMETRY , *MEDICAL centers , *POPULATION - Abstract
Abstract: Previous data on the prevalence of olfactory dysfunction in Parkinson''s disease (PD) range from 45% to 90%. The present multicenter study aimed to provide data on the prevalence of smell loss in a large sample of PD patients from three independent populations. Olfactory sensitivity was tested in 400 patients from Australia, Germany, and The Netherlands by means of a psychophysical olfactory test, the “Sniffin'' Sticks”, which is comprised of 3 subtests of olfactory function. Out of the total number of patients 45.0% presented as functionally anosmic, 51.7% were hyposmic, whereas only 3.3% were normosmic. This indicates that 96.7% of PD patients present with significant olfactory loss when compared to young normosmic subjects. This figure falls to 74.5%, however, when adjusted to age-related norms. Thus, olfactory dysfunction should be considered as a reliable marker of the disease. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]
- Published
- 2009
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