In other words, participants who failed the initial olfactory test were four times more likely to die within five years than those who correctly identified all five odors. This was true when controlling for other factors that affect smell, such as race, gender, mental illness, and socioeconomic status, and milder smell loss was associated with a slightly increased likelihood of impending death.
Loss of smell was a more accurate predictor of death than a diagnosis of cancer, heart failure, or lung disease, and the only common cause that predicted it more accurately was severe liver damage. But the researchers point out that this is unlikely to be the cause of death itself, arguing that it is only a sign of things to come, and offer two possible reasons why.
The olfactory nerve endings, which contain olfactory receptors, are the only part of the human nervous system that is continuously regenerated by primary cells. The production of new olfactory cells declines with age, as our ability to detect and distinguish odors gradually declines. Loss of smell indicates that the body is in a damaged state and is unable to repair itself.
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