Synonyms
Anosphrasia
Definition
Anosmia is defined as a lack of the sense of smell or an inability to detect odors of any kind. In the strictest sense, “anosmia” refers to a total lack of olfactory ability, though the term is often used more loosely to refer also to partial or diminished sense of smell. There are multiple additional terms describing olfactory abilities. Normosmia is the intact ability to perceive odors. Hyposmia is a more precise term to describe decreased ability to perceive smells, whereas hyperosmia is the increased ability to perceive odors. Dysosmia (a.k.a. parosmia) refers to distortions in the sense of smell, including cacosmia (distortion of a smell as particularly unpleasant) and phantosmia (an olfactory hallucination, or the sensation of a smell in the absence of a stimulus).
Epidemiology
Olfactory dysfunction is present in at least 1% of individuals under the age of 65, with some estimates suggesting total anosmia in as much as 5% of the population. Rates of...
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsReferences and Readings
Costanza, R. M., DiNardo, L. J., & Reiter, E. R. (2003). Head injury and olfaction. In R. L. Doty (Ed.), Handbook of olfaction and gustation (2nd ed.). New York: Marcel Dekker.
Devanand, D. P., Michaels-Marston, K. S., Liu, X., Pelton, G. H., Padilla, M., Marder, K., et al. (2000). Olfactory deficits in patients with mild cognitive impairment predict Alzheimer’s disease at follow-up. American Journal of Psychiatry, 157, 1344–1405.
Devanand, D. P., Tabert, M. H., Cuasay, K., Manly, J. J., Schupf, N., Brickman, A. M., et al. (in press). Olfactory identification deficits and MCI in a multi-ethnic elderly community sample. Neurobiology of Aging.
Doty, R. L. (2003a). Odor perception in neurodegenerative diseases. In R. L. Doty (Ed.), Handbook of olfaction and gustation (2nd ed.). New York: Marcel Dekker.
Doty, R. L. (Ed.). (2003b). Handbook of olfaction and gustation (2nd ed.). New York: Marcel Dekker.
Doty, R. L., & Bromley, S. M. (2004). Effects of drugs on olfaction and taste. Otolaryngologic Clinics of North America, 37, 1229–1254.
Frank, R. A., Dulay, M. F., & Gestland, R. C. (2003). Assessment of the sniff magnitude test as a clinical test of olfactory function. Physiology & Behavior, 78, 195–204.
Gotfried, J. A., & Zald, D. H. (2005). On the scent of human olfactory orbitofrontal cortex: Meta-analysis and comparison to non-human primates. Brain Research Brain Research Reviews, 50, 287–304.
Gray, A. J., Staples, V., Murren, K., Dhariwal, A., & Bentham, P. (2001). Olfactory identification is impaired in clinic-based patients with vascular dementia and senile dementia of the Alzheimer type. International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 16, 513–517.
Hummel, T., Rissom, K., Reden, J., Hähner, A., Weidenbecher, M., & Hüttenbrink, K. B. (2009). Effects of olfactory training in patients with olfactory loss. Laryngoscope, 119, 496–499.
Hummell, T., Kobal, G., Gudziol, H., & Mackay-Sim, A. (2007). Normative data for the “sniffin’sticks” including tests of odor identification, odor discrimination, and olfactory thresholds: An upgrade based on a group of more than 3000 subjects. European Archives of Otorhinolaryngology, 264, 237–243.
Knupfer, L., & Spiegel, R. (1986). Differences in olfactory test performance between normal aged, Alzheimer and vascular type dementia individuals. International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 1, 3–14.
Luzzi, S., Snowden, J. S., Neary, D., Coccia, M., Provinciali, L., & Lambon Ralph, M. A. (2007). Distinct patterns of olfactory impairment in Alzheimer’s disease, semantic dementia, frontotemporal dementia, and corticobasal degeneration. Neuropsychologia, 45, 1823–1831.
McLaughlin, N., & Westervelt, H. J. (2008). Odor identification deficits in frontotemporal dementia: A preliminary study. Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology, 23, 119–123.
McShane, R. H., Nagy, Z., Esiri, M. M., King, E., Joachim, C., Sullivan, N., et al. (2001). Anosmia in dementia is associated with Lewy bodies rather than Alzheimer’s pathology. Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry, 70, 739–743.
Mesholam, R. I., Moberg, P. H., Mahr, R. N., & Doty, R. L. (1998). Olfaction in neurodegenerative disease. A meta-analysis of olfactory functioning in Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases. Archives of Neurology, 55, 84–90.
Murphy, C., Schubert, C. R., Cruickshanks, K. J., Klein, B. E., Klein, R., & Nondahl, D. M. (2002). Prevalence of olfactory impairment in older adults. Journal of the American Medical Association, 288, 2307–2312.
Murphy, C., Doty, R. L., & Duncan, H. J. (2003). Clinical disorders of olfaction. In R. L. Doty (Ed.), Handbook of olfaction and gustation (2nd ed.). New York: Marcel Dekker.
Olichney, J. M., Murphy, C., Hofstetter, C. R., Foster, K., Hansen, L. A., Thal, L. J., et al. (2005). Anosmia is very common in the Lewy body variant of Alzheimer’s disease. Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry, 76, 1342–1347.
Pardini, M., Huey, E. D., Cavanagh, A. L., & Grafman, J. (2009). Olfactory function in corticobasal syndrome and frontotemporal dementia. Archives of Neurology, 66, 92–96.
Schiffman, S. S. (2000). Intensification of sensory properties of food for the elderly. Journal of Nutrition, 130, 9275–9305.
Smutzer, G. S., Doty, R. L., Arnold, S. E., & Trojanowski, J. Q. (2003). Olfactory system neuropathology in Alzheimer’s disease Parkinson’s disease, and schizophrenia. In R. L. Doty (Ed.), Handbook of olfaction and gustation (2nd ed.). New York: Marcel Dekker.
Upadhyay, U. D., & Holbrook, E. H. (2004). Olfactory loss as a result of toxic exposure. Otolaryngologic Clinics of North America, 37, 1185–1207.
Westervelt, H. J., Stern, R. A., & Tremont, G. (2003). Odor identification deficits in diffuse Lewy body disease. Cognitive and Behavioral Neurology, 16, 93–99.
Westervelt, H. J., Bruce, J. M., Coon, W. G., & Tremont, G. (2008). Odor identification in mild cognitive impairment subtypes. Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology, 30, 151–156.
Wilson, R. S., Schneider, J. A., Arnold, S. E., Tang, Y., Boyle, P. A., & Bennett, D. A. (2007). Olfactory identification and incidence of mild cognitive impairment in older age. Archives of General Psychiatry, 64, 802–808.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature
About this entry
Cite this entry
Westervelt, H.J., McLaughlin, N.C.R. (2018). Anosmia. In: Kreutzer, J.S., DeLuca, J., Caplan, B. (eds) Encyclopedia of Clinical Neuropsychology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-57111-9_1878
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-57111-9_1878
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-57110-2
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-57111-9
eBook Packages: Behavioral Science and PsychologyReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences