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Problems with ability to smell or taste common in middle-aged and older adults (2015-11-09)

Approximately 23 percent of U.S. adults ages 40 and older report having had a problem with their ability to smell, and about 19 percent report having had a problem with their ability to taste, according to a recently published study. Conducted by the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the study examines the first collection of nationally representative, population-based survey data of middle-aged and older adults on perceived smell and taste problems, related risk factors, and treatments.

Published online October 20, 2015, in the journal Chemical Senses, the study confirms earlier findings that problems with the perception of smell or taste—also known as chemosensory disorders—increase with age.
Nearly one in three (31 percent) adults 80 years and older say they have experienced a problem with their sense of smell, including a diminished sense of smell over time.
More than one in four (27 percent) adults 80 years and older report having had a problem with their sense of taste, including changes in taste sensation over time.

Chemosensory disorders can challenge health and well-being through diminished ability to detect environmental hazards and maintain healthy eating. For example, people who have a poor ability to smell or taste may miss important cues such as gas leaks, fire, and spoiled food.

The study is an analysis of data from the 2011-2012 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), which is conducted by National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS).
More than 3,600 U.S. adults 40 years and older answered a questionnaire about perceived smell and taste problems, chemosensory losses since age 25, related risk factors, and treatment of chemosensory problems.
The NIDCD collaborated with NCHS on the development of the survey questions, which were content-validated by chemosensory experts and tested for response problems and cultural appropriateness.

"The data from this survey suggest that self-reported chemosensory problems are an increasing issue among middle-age and older adults,” said Howard J. Hoffman, M.A., NIDCD director of epidemiology and statistics and a co-author of the study.

Participants who had experienced cold or flu symptoms lasting more than a month or allergy-related nasal congestion in the past year were twice as likely to report having a smell disorder as those who did not report sinonasal symptoms.
Other risk factors for smell disorders included heavy drinking, loss of consciousness from a head injury, family income, and dry mouth (xerostomia).
Participants with dry mouth were more than twice as likely to also report taste alteration.
Other factors affecting the ability to taste included nose or facial injury, lower educational level, and fair or poor health.

Of adults ages 40 and older who reported having a problem with their ability to smell, 6 percent reported they had phantosmia (smelling phantom odors).
Of adults ages 40 and older who reported having a problem with their ability to taste, 5 percent reported they had dysgeusia, or distortion of the sense of taste.

For more information
Chemical Senses
Prevalence and Risk Factors of Self-Reported Smell and Taste Alterations: Results from the 2011–2012 US National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES)
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U.S. National Institutes of Health - NIH
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MDN