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Good News for Elderly Persons: Olfactory Pleasure Increases at Later Stages of the Life Span

Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Germany.

Address correspondence to Katrin Markovic, MD, Arbeitsgruppe/Laborbereich Sensorik, Psychiatrische und Psychotherapeutische Klinik, Universität Erlangen-Nuernberg, Schwabachanlage 6, 91054 Erlangen, Germany. E-mail: katrin.markovic{at}psych.imed.uni-erlangen.de

Background. Numerous studies have been conducted collecting normative values dependent on age for the three major components of the Sniffin' Stick Test (threshold of n-butanol, and identification and discrimination of odors). Less is known about the influence of age on the hedonic and intensity evaluation of odors. Thus, the objective of this study was to analyze the influence of age on the hedonic and intensity estimates in a large human population.

Methods. Two hundred one single data sets established the Hedonic Database of Smell-Franconia (HeDoS-F) with the parameters age, gender, odor threshold, odor discrimination, oder identification, intensity estimates, and hedonic estimates (median age: 39 years, interquartile range: 28, minimum age: 19, maximum age: 83, men: 103, women: 98). For olfactory testing the Sniffin' Stick Test was used, and hedonic and intensity estimates were registered using visual analogue rating scales. For statistical analysis, we separated the study population into three age groups (19–39 years, 40–59 years, and 60 years), and parametric and nonparametric tests were calculated.

Results. We found a significant influence of age on threshold, discrimination, and identification with a decrease in the higher age class. Over all odors the summed intensity estimates did not depend on age, whereas the summed relative hedonic estimates increased with the beginning of the fifth decade.

Conclusion. Our study suggests that, for perceived odors, olfactory pleasure increases at later stages of the life span, whereas the perceived intensity of odors remains stable.