Symptoms of depression change with olfactory function

Research output: Contribution to journalResearch articleContributedpeer-review

Contributors

Abstract

Olfactory loss is associated with symptoms of depression. The present study, conducted on a large cohort of mostly dysosmic patients, aimed to investigate whether improvement in olfactory performance would correspond with a decrease in depression severity. In 171 participants (157 dysosmic), we assessed olfactory function and severity of depression before and after an average interval of 11 months, with many patients showing improvement in olfactory function. Separate analyses were conducted for (a) the whole group of patients and (b) the group of dysosmic patients using both classic and Bayesian approaches. For odor identification, Student t test demonstrated that the whole sample improved consistently, especially within the group of dysosmic patients. The dysosmic group also improved in odor threshold and overall olfactory function. Pearson correlation showed that an increase in olfactory function was associated with a decrease in depression severity, particularly in dysosmic patients. To conclude, the present results indicate that symptoms of depression change with olfactory function in general and odor identification in particular.

Details

Original languageEnglish
Article number5656
Number of pages8
JournalScientific reports
Volume12
Issue number1
Publication statusPublished - 5 Apr 2022
Peer-reviewedYes

External IDs

PubMedCentral PMC8983665
Scopus 85127548630
unpaywall 10.1038/s41598-022-09650-7
Mendeley 7fb0a1db-105a-32f8-96b3-a972e4be9dc9
ORCID /0000-0001-9713-0183/work/146645234
ORCID /0000-0003-1311-8000/work/158767504

Keywords

Keywords

  • Bayes Theorem, Depression, Humans, Odorants, Olfaction Disorders, Smell