Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Comparative Study
. 2013;17(5):564-70.
doi: 10.1080/13607863.2013.768208. Epub 2013 Feb 12.

Olfaction and apathy in Alzheimer's disease, mild cognitive impairment, and healthy older adults

Sarah C Seligman  1 , Vidyulata Kamath, Tania Giovannetti, Steven E Arnold, Paul J Moberg
Affiliations
Comparative Study

Olfaction and apathy in Alzheimer's disease, mild cognitive impairment, and healthy older adults

Sarah C Seligman et al. Aging Ment Health. 2013.

Abstract

Objectives: Apathy is a prevalent neuropsychiatric manifestation in individuals with Alzheimer's disease (AD) that is associated with decreased social functioning and increased caregiver burden. Olfactory deficits are also commonly observed in AD, and prior work has indicated a link between increased apathy and olfactory dysfunction in individuals with Parkinson's disease. Here, we examined odor identification performance in patients with probable AD (n = 172), individuals with mild cognitive impairment (MCI; n = 112), and neurologically and psychiatrically healthy older adults (n = 132) and its relation to apathy, depression, and overall psychopathology.

Method: Participants were administered the Sniffin' Sticks odor identification test and measures assessing severity of apathy, depression, and overall neuropsychiatric symptomatology.

Results: Consistent with previous research, AD and MCI patients were significantly worse at identifying odors than healthy older adults. Additionally, a sex by diagnosis interaction was observed. AD patients had significantly higher levels of apathy relative to MCI and control participants. Of note, across the entire sample odor identification deficits were correlated with level of apathy at the level of p < 0.01, but not with depression or neuropsychiatric symptom severity, when controlling for Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) score.

Conclusion: Collectively, these data suggest that olfactory disturbance and apathy in AD may result from the progression of disease pathology in shared neural substrates.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Olfaction and Apathy in Alzheimer’s Disease, Mild Cognitive Impairment, and Healthy Older Adults Figure 1
Olfactory task performance (± SE) in patients with Alzheimer’s disease (AD), mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and healthy older adults.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Apostolova LG, Cummings JL. Neuropsychiatric manifestations in mild cognitive impairment: a systematic review of the literature. Dement Geriatr Cogn Disord. 2008;25(2):115–126. - PubMed
    1. Bahar-Fuchs A, Moss S, Rowe C, Savage G. Olfactory performance in AD, aMCI, and healthy ageing: a unirhinal approach. Chem Senses. 2010;35(9):855–862. - PubMed
    1. Boyle PA, Malloy PF, Salloway S, Cahn-Weiner DA, Cohen R, Cummings JL. Executive dysfunction and apathy predict functional impairment in Alzheimer disease. Am J Geriatr Psychiatry. 2003;11(2):214–221. - PubMed
    1. Chandler MJ, Lacritz LH, Hynan LS, Barnard HD, Allen G, Deschner M, Cullum CM. A total score for the CERAD neuropsychological battery. Neurology. 2005;65(1):102–106. - PubMed
    1. Cramer CK, Friedman JH, Amick MM. Olfaction and apathy in Parkinson's disease. Parkinsonism Relat Disord. 2010;16(2):124–126. - PubMed

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources