When was the last time you tried smelling a flower or a fragrant perfume? Did you notice have any difficulty determining a scent? According to a study published in the February issue of the Annals of Neurology, you may be at higher risk of developing Parkinson’s disease.
The study followed 2,267 men who received olfactory (sensory preceptors that are found in the nose and brain) testing at the Kuakini Medical Center in Honolulu at least once during two periods in the 1990s. They were followed for up to eight years and, during that time, 35 of the men developed Parkinson’s disease.
Researchers made accommodations for those men that might have an impaired sense of smell due to older age, lower cognitive function, smoking, and drinking coffee or other risk factors for decreased smell perception. The results determined that these men were five times more likely to develop Parkinson’s disease than not. Parkinson’s developed anywhere from 2 to 5 years later in individuals who had significant loss of smell.
Some experts now regard a loss of smell as one of the earliest signs of Parkinson’s disease. Another study conducted by Dr. Kapil Sethi, director of the Movement Disorders Program at the Medical College of Georgia stated, “With Parkinson’s, we are dependent on the presence of motor symptoms like tremors, stiffness and slowness in order to diagnose it. By that time you have lost 50 to 60 percent of your dopaminergic cells, which make dopamine and are key to movement control.” Diagnosing Parkinson’s earlier improves the chance symptoms can be controlled with medication before significant amounts of dopamine are lost in patients.
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