The association between olfactory subdomains and frailty: A prospective caseâcontrol study investigation.
Int Forum Allergy Rhinol
; 14(10): 1598-1606, 2024 Oct.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-38940232
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
Amidst the rise of frailty among a globally aging population, olfactory decline has emerged as a harbinger of frailty and mortality in population-level studies. However, the relationships between frailty and the olfactory subdomains of identification (OI), discrimination (OD), and threshold (OT) remain unexplored. This study prospectively examined the association between olfactory subdomains and the physical frailty phenotype (PFP) to investigate olfactory evaluation as a means of frailty screening.METHODS:
A caseâcontrol study of 45 frail and 45 non-frail individuals matched by age and sex. OT, OD, OI (range 0â16), and composite sum (threshold, discrimination, and identification scores [TDI], range 0â48) were measured with Sniffin' Sticks. PFP was defined by presence of three or more criteria physical inactivity, self-reported exhaustion, muscle weakness, slow gait, and unintentional weight loss. Conditional logistic regression evaluated associations between olfactory subdomains and frailty.RESULTS:
Ninety individuals with mean age of 83.1 ± 4.9 years, 60% female (n = 54), and 87.8% white (n = 79) were included. Olfactory scores were significantly lower in the frail group for OI (9.2 vs. 12.1, p < 0.001), OD (8.1 vs. 11.6, p < 0.001), OT (4.4 vs. 8.5, p < 0.001), and TDI (21.7 vs. 32.2, p < 0.001) than in the non-frail group. A single-point decrease in olfactory score was associated with increased odds of frailty in OT (odds ratio [OR] 2.21, 95% confidence interval [1.22, 3.98]), OD (OR 2.19, 95% CI [1.32, 3.65]), OI (OR 2.29, 95% CI [1.19, 4.39]), and TDI (OR 1.54, 95% CI [1.14, 2.08]).CONCLUSION:
The robust association between olfactory subdomain scores and frailty suggests that olfaction may be an accessible signifier of frailty. Future studies should investigate this relationship longitudinally to assess predictive relationships.Key words
Full text:
1
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Smell
/
Frailty
Limits:
Aged
/
Aged80
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
Language:
En
Journal:
Int Forum Allergy Rhinol
/
Int. forum allergy rhinol
/
International forum of allergy & rhinology (Print)
Year:
2024
Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
United States