Mar 28 2008
Smell disorder will lead to Parkinson’s disease
Mar 28: A study conducted by the researchers at the Pacific Health Research Institute in Hawaii has revealed that smell impairment in men will lead to Parkinson’s disease within four years time. According to the research difficulty in identifying the smell is considered as an early symptom for Parkinson’s disease. The findings of the study were published in the official journal of the American Neurological Association named Annals of Neurology.
The research team was headed by G. Webster Ross of the V A pacific Islands Health Care System and the Pacific Health Research Institute in Honolulu, Hawaii. In total 2267 men who underwent an olfactory test were considered for the study and they were observed for the period of eight years to find any symptoms of Parkinson’s disease. During the time of the research 35 men were affected by the disease.
The outcome of the study revealed that the smell imparity in people particularly men will lead to the development of Parkinson’s disease. The main reason attributed for the smell deficit are smoking, older age, more coffee consumption, less frequent bowel movements, lesser cognitive function and too much daytime sleepiness. Even after adjusting those factors the people with odour problem still have the risk of getting affected by Parkinson’s disease.
The origin of smell disorder in Parkinson’s disease is not fully understood. But other symptoms like formation of Lewy bodies, nerve loss, and excess clumps of proteins inside nerves cells are considered to happen in the olfactory structure of the patients with the disease.
Similar study conducted earlier involving dissection of the brain of dead patients who are affected by neurological disease revealed that the olfactory structures are the earliest brain region that is affected by Lewy degeneration. This finding also stressed on the point that smell disorder is the early sign of Parkinson’s disease.
