Home › Research › Risk factors
Olfactory identification deficits and increased mortality in the community
Devanand DP, Lee S, Manly J, Andrews H, Schupf N, Masurkar A, Stern Y, Mayeux R et al.. Annals of neurology, 2015-07-03
Topic: Health services, long-term care and technology
Objective To examine the association between odor identification deficits and future mortality in a multiethnic community cohort of older adults. Methods Participants were evaluated with the 40-item University of Pennsylvania Smell Identification Test (UPSIT). Follow-up occurred at 2-year intervals with information on death obtained from informant interviews and the National Death Index. Results During follow-up (mean = 4.1 years, standard deviation = 2.6), 349 of 1,169 (29.9%) participants died. Participants who died were more likely to be older (p < 0.001), be male (p < 0.001), have lower UPSIT scores (p < 0.001), and have a diagnosis of dementia (p < 0.001). In a Cox model, the association between lower UPSIT score and mortality (hazard ratio [HR] = 1.07 per point interval, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.05-1.08, p < 0.001) persisted after controlling for age, gender, education, ethnicity, language, modified Charlson medical comorbidity index, dementia, depression, alcohol abuse, head injury, smoking, body mass index, and vision and hearing impairment (HR = 1.05, 95% CI = 1.03-1.07, p < 0.001). Compared to the fourth quartile with the highest UPSIT scores, HRs for mortality for the first, second, and third quartiles of UPSIT scores were 3.81 (95% CI = 2.71-5.34), 1.75 (95% CI = 1.23-2.50), and 1.58 (95% CI = 1.09-2.30), respectively. Participant mortality rate was 45% in the lowest quartile of UPSIT scores (anosmia) and 18% in the highest quartile of UPSIT scores. Interpretation Impaired odor identification, particularly in the anosmic range, is associated with increased mortality in older adults even after controlling for dementia and medical comorbidity.
Key findings
- Results During follow-up (mean = 4.1 years, standard deviation = 2.6), 349 of 1,169 (29.9%) participants died.
- Compared to the fourth quartile with the highest UPSIT scores, HRs for mortality for the first, second, and third quartiles of UPSIT scores were 3.81 (95% CI = 2.71-5.34), 1.75 (95% CI = 1.23-2.50), and 1.58 (95% CI = 1.09-2.30), respectively.
- Interpretation Impaired odor identification, particularly in the anosmic range, is associated with increased mortality in older adults even after controlling for dementia and medical comorbidity.
New to this subject? Start with our plain-English guide: Risk factors, ranked →
Study details
- Effect size29.9%; HR = 1.05
- Evidence strengthModerate
How this study scored 74/100
Published in a leading specialty journal, and it is a randomised controlled trial. Scored zero for sample size because the record does not state it. We have no data on journal's citation record, times cited, citations per year, impact for its field and year, cited by studies here, still being cited, senior author's track record, institution's track record and multi-centre collaboration, so those were left out: it earned 43 of the 58 points we could judge it on, which is 74 out of 100.
| Component | Points | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Journal tier | 9 / 10 | Tier 2 — leading specialty journal (Annals of neurology) |
| Journal's citation record | — / 4 | No journal record from OpenAlex — left out of this score |
| Study design | 11 / 12 | A randomised controlled trial (from PubMed type “Randomized Controlled Trial”) |
| Strength of evidence | 3 / 5 | Rated “moderate” in our summary |
| Peer-review validation | 10 / 10 | Peer-reviewed. Published as an article in a named peer-reviewed journal. |
| How recent | 1 / 5 | 2015 — within 20 year(s) of the newest study here |
| Sample size | 0 / 4 | Participant count not stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Effect reported | 3 / 3 | Effect reported with a statistic (interval, p-value, ratio or similar) |
| Studied in people | 3 / 3 | Studied in people (pubmed indexes it as a clinical or observational study) |
| Randomised / blinded | 1 / 2 | Randomised (as stated in the record) |
| Times cited | — / 7 | No citation count (not found in OpenAlex) — left out of this score |
| Citations per year | — / 5 | No citation count or no year — left out of this score |
| Impact for its field and year | — / 6 | No field-weighted citation impact (OpenAlex has none yet) — left out of this score |
| Cited by studies here | — / 6 | Not yet checked against this library's citation graph — left out of this score |
| Still being cited | — / 4 | No yearly citation counts — left out of this score |
| Senior author's track record | — / 4 | Senior author's record not available — left out of this score |
| Institution's track record | — / 3 | No institution listed in OpenAlex — left out of this score |
| Multi-centre collaboration | — / 3 | Institutions not listed — left out of this score |
| Indexed in PubMed | 2 / 2 | Indexed in PubMed (PMID 26031760) |
| Free to read | 0 / 2 | Behind a paywall — scores zero |
| Points | 43 / 58 | Scored on 11 of 20 parts. We have no data for the rest, so they are left out: 43 of the 58 points we could judge it on is 74 out of 100. |
| Total | 74 / 100 | — |
What each of these 20 components measures, and what this score is not →
Read the original
Free copy unknown: no free-copy check has an answer for this record yet. That does not mean it is paywalled.
Cite this study APA, Vancouver, BibTeX · download .bib or .ris
Built from the record alzhub holds for this paper, not looked up. Volume, issue and page numbers are not held in the record. The record's author list ends in “et al.”, so not every author is named. Check the citation against the original before you use it.
APA 7th
Devanand, D. P., Lee, S., Manly, J., Andrews, H., Schupf, N., Masurkar, A., et al. (2015). Olfactory identification deficits and increased mortality in the community. Annals of neurology. https://doi.org/10.1002/ana.24447
Vancouver
Devanand DP, Lee S, Manly J, Andrews H, Schupf N, Masurkar A, et al. Olfactory identification deficits and increased mortality in the community. Annals of neurology. 2015. doi:10.1002/ana.24447. PMID: 26031760.
BibTeX
@article{devanand2015-26031760,
author = {Devanand, D. P. and Lee, S. and Manly, J. and Andrews, H. and Schupf, N. and Masurkar, A. and Stern, Y. and Mayeux, R. and others},
title = {{Olfactory identification deficits and increased mortality in the community}},
journal = {Annals of neurology},
year = {2015},
doi = {10.1002/ana.24447},
pmid = {26031760},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1002/ana.24447}
}
Related studies in Risk factors
Also tagged “hearing”
118 studies in the library carry the topic tag “hearing”; these are this study's neighbours in a fixed, alphabetical-by-hash tour of them, not the closest in content. All 118 tagged studies.