Parkinson’s : a sniff test to predict the risk

halfpoint/epictura

Published the 08.09.2017 at 15h58

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The disappearance of the sense of smell be an early sign of Parkinson’s disease ? A study published in Neurology shows, in any case, a sniff test can help identify people at high risk of developing this neurodegenerative disease ten years before symptoms appear.

“One of the strengths of our study is that we followed patients for ten years, on average, much higher than the previous work, explains the Pr Honglei Chen, an epidemiologist at the State university of Michigan (Usa) and lead author. We have discovered an important link between the smell and the risk of developing the disease in the 6 years that follow. After that, the link persists, but it is less powerful. “

A risk multiplied by 5

The team of professor Chen came to this result by studying nearly 2,500 persons average (mean) age of 75 years. At the beginning of the study, volunteers were asked to sniff the 12 odors easily recognizable as cinnamon, gasoline, soap or even the onion.

Based on the responses, and therefore their sense of smell, the participants were then divided into 3 groups. Their health was then monitored between 2000 and 2012 with medical consultations, but also by phone.

At the end of the study, 42 participants were diagnosed. The volunteers are having a bad flair were 5 times more likely to develop Parkinson’s disease than those with an excellent sense of smell. In fact, on the 764 people without a good sense of smell, 26 have developed Parkinson’s disease. While in the group of ” the nose “, only 9 people have suffered from the disease of 835 participants.

Detect early

This surrisque among the volunteers in the limited sense seems to persist even after taking into account factors such as smoking or a history of concussions. On the other hand, it appears that the men whose sense of smell is fallible have an increased risk of developing Parkinson’s than women.

“It is important to note that all of the people who have a weak sense of smell are not going to suffer from this disease. Additional research is needed before using the sniff test as a screening tool, but we are sure to be on a good track and our goal now is to better characterize populations who are more at risk of Parkinson’s disease and to identify new factors, ” says professor Chen.