The DOI matches its Crossref record; 40 of the 47 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Gustatory and olfactory dysfunction in older adults: a national probability study
Open accessAbstract
BACKGROUND: Olfactory and gustatory functions have not been well characterized in older adults in the US. Consequently, their relationships to sociodemographic characteristics, as well as physical and mental health, were studied in a large national probability sample using brief validated tests of chemosensory function. METHODS: A five-odour identification test and taste-impregnated strips of filter paper (sweet, sour, bitter, and salty) assessed the ability to identify chemosensory stimuli. RESULTS: Severe gustatory dysfunction was more prevalent than severe olfactory dysfunction. Age, education and sex were independently associated with performance on both the olfactory and gustatory identification tasks. Higher scores were associated with female sex, higher level of education, and lower age. Odour identification scores exhibited a positive, albeit weak, correlation with BMI, and food-related odours were better identified than non-food odours. In addition, odour identification performance was also negatively associated with depressive symptoms. CONCLUSIONS: These data demonstrate a high prevalence of severe gustatory and, to a somewhat lesser extent, olfactory dysfunction in a population-based sample and demonstrate that even brief tests are capable of detecting correlations between both chemical senses and relevant health measures outside a clinical setting.
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“The NSHAP found the prevalence of severe gustatory impairment (defined as correct identification of ≤1 of the four flavors: sour, bitter, sweet, salty, presented in that order) to be 14.8% (women 10.2%, men 19.2%) (Boesveldt et al., 2011).”
From Design Principles to Accommodate Older Adults (2012) · cites this paper as Boesveldt et al., 2011
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In the citing paper
“The ability to perceive sweetness was preserved to the greatest degree, being correctly identified by 86.7% of subjects, whereas sour taste was correctly identified by only 39.4% of subjects.”
From Design Principles to Accommodate Older Adults (2012) · cites this paper as Boesveldt et al., 2011
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredThe cited source says what the claim attributes to it.
In the citing paper
“Odor identification declined with age in both sexes; peppermint odor was correctly identified most often (91.6%) and leather least often (70.5%).”
From Design Principles to Accommodate Older Adults (2012) · cites this paper as Boesveldt et al., 2011
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“The National Social Life, Health and Aging Project (NSHAP), a US population-based study of community-dwelling older adults aged 57 to 85, found the prevalence of severe olfactory dysfunction (defined as correctly identifying ≤ 1 of 5 odorants: rose, leather, orange, fish, peppermint) to be 2.7% (women, 2.2%, men, 3.2%) (Boesveldt, Lindau, McClintock, Hummel, & Lundstrom, 2011).”
From Design Principles to Accommodate Older Adults (2012) · cites this paper as Boesveldt, Lindau, McClintock, Hummel, & Lundstrom, 2011
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“The sense of taste is also depressed in older adults.”
From Design Principles to Accommodate Older Adults (2012) · cites this paper as Boesveldt et al., 2011
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Citations
Cites
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“Details of the study design have been previously described(19).”
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“This is consistent with previous research showing marked age-related declines(1,30,34–36) and superior female performance(1,30,35,37) in assessments of both olfactory and gustatory function.”
ResultCruickshanks, K., Wiley, T. L., Tweed, T. S., Klein, B., Klein, R., Mares-Perlman, J., & Nondahl, D. (1998) · American Journal of Epidemiology · doi:10.1093/oxfordjournals.aje.a009713 · Cited by 1,187
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Prevalence of olfactory impairment in older adults.
Murphy, C. (2002) · JAMA · doi:10.1001/jama.288.18.2307 · Cited by 953 · cited 2×
“5%) and therefore not a sensitive indicator of objective olfactory impairment(14).”
BackgroundResultTaste and smell losses in normal aging and disease.
Schiffman, S. (1997) · Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) · doi:10.1001/jama.1997.03550160077042 · Cited by 592 · cited 2×
“Since gustatory function is known to decrease with age(4,30,31), the discrepancy between studies could be explained by the different age groups explored.”
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Bramerson, A., Johansson, L., Ek, L., Nordin, S., & Bende, M. (2004) · The Laryngoscope · doi:10.1097/00005537-200404000-00026 · Cited by 560 · cited 1×
“This could explain why the prevalence of severe olfactory or gustatory dysfunction in the present study is (slightly) lower than in previous studies that obtained data in similar populations or under similar circumstances(14,16,24,25).”
ResultA Study on the Frequency of Olfactory Dysfunction
Landis, B. N., Konnerth, C., & Hummel, T. (2004) · The Laryngoscope · doi:10.1097/00005537-200410000-00017 · Cited by 481 · cited 1×
“This could explain why the prevalence of severe olfactory or gustatory dysfunction in the present study is (slightly) lower than in previous studies that obtained data in similar populations or under similar circumstances(14,16,24,25).”
ResultSelf-citation
Flagged first, then by citations
7 of the 47 references couldn’t be matched to a known paper.
Research works printed but not linked: 4
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Kumar, Z. N., & Kumari, B. (2020) · doi:10.31878/ijcbr.2020.63.03 · Cited by 3
Chemosensory Function during Neurologically Healthy Aging
Stamps, J. J. (2019) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781108554350.006 · Cited by 3
Cognitive, Olfactory, and Affective Determinants of Body Weight in Aging Individuals
Aiello, M., Parma, V., Carlo, S. D., Hummel, T. R., & Rumiati, R. I. (2018) · Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology · doi:10.1093/arclin/acy072 · Cited by 5
Self-citationDong, J.-J., Yu, X., Liang, Y., Zhang, H.-L., Sun, H., & Guo, R. (2025) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0318145 · Cited by 2
“This finding is consistent with those of other studies suggesting that women generally outperform men in tests of odor detection, identification, and discrimination [24–26].”
Chen, Z.-Y., Zhou, X., Li, C.-J., & Liu, J.-F. (2025) · Frontiers in Neuroscience · doi:10.3389/fnins.2025.1534296 · Cited by 2
“Notably, the elderly have exhibited a significant rise in taste disorder prevalence, reaching 14–22%, which is much higher than olfactory dysfunction (Boesveldt et al., 2011).”
Clinical Characteristics and Gustatory Profiles in Patients with Subjective Taste Complaints
Kim, S.-Y., Byun, J., Jung, J.-K., & Choi, J.-K. (2019) · Journal of Oral Medicine and Pain · doi:10.14476/jomp.2019.44.3.103 · Cited by 2
“Several previous studies also indicated age-related changes in taste sensitivity with a progressively increasing prevalence rate with age [6,9,17].”
Moura, R. G. F., da Cunha, D. D., Canevassi, P. M. B. T., Caldas, A. S. C., & da Silva, H. D. (2019) · Audiology: Communication Research · doi:10.1590/2317-6431-2017-1967 · Cited by 2
From loss to recovery: how to effectively assess chemosensory impairments during COVID-19 pandemic
Cecchetto, C., Pizio, A. D., Genovese, F., Calcinoni, O., Macchi, A., Dunkel, A., Ohla, K., Spinelli, S., Farruggia, M. C., Joseph, P. V., et al. (2021) · medRxiv · doi:10.1101/2021.03.25.21254253 · Cited by 1
Ciullo, D., & Dotson, C. (2015) · Chemosensory Perception · doi:10.1007/s12078-015-9190-y · Cited by 1
“Research has suggested that taste perception is impaired during normal aging (Bartoshuk 1989; Boesveldt et al. 2011; Cowart 1989; Heft and Robinson 2010; Methven et al. 2012; Mojet et al. 2001; Murphy 1993; Schiffman 1997; Stevens 1996), even more so in hospitalized older adults (Solemdal et al.…”
BackgroundTanaka, T., Oriyama, T., Yamamoto, T., Kimura, S., Fujii, A., Tauchi, R., Shirai, K., Taguchi, S., Kawai, T., Kume, H., et al. (2026) · Supportive Care in Cancer · doi:10.1007/s00520-026-11044-8
“A population-based study showed that individuals with depressive symptoms were more likely to experience dysgeusia than those without [13].”
Li, Y., Huang, R.-L., Li, X.-Y., & Pan, Q.-C. (2026) · Frontiers in Neurology · doi:10.3389/fneur.2026.1815844
“…has identified gender as an independent determinant of olfactory dysfunction in OSAHS patients, noting a decline in olfactory performance associated with advancing age, and generally better olfactory threshold, discrimination, and recognition scores among females compared to males (10, 17, 18).”
Sociodemographic and biochemical correlates of self-reported taste dysfunction: an NHANES analysis
Arcot, D., & Chakraborty, S. (2026) · Open Medicine · doi:10.1515/med-2026-1496
“Lower education levels and annual household income are associated with higher smoking rates, poor nutrition, and greater occupational chemical exposures, which can in turn cause dysgeusia [2, 18, 21 – 23].”
Topinková, E. (2022) · Pathy's Principles and Practice of Geriatric Medicine · doi:10.1002/9781119484288.ch76
Symptoms of Depression in Patients with Chemosensory Disorders
Suharta, M. T. (2021) · Open Access Indonesian Journal of Medical Reviews · doi:10.37275/oaijmr.v1i1.549
Determination of microcharacteristics of air flow in the nasal cavity during breathing
Nosova, Y., Avrunin, O., & Ismail, H. F. (2018) · Bulletin of the National Technical University «KhPI» Series New solutions in modern technologies · doi:10.20998/2413-4295.2018.16.19
What are Probable Olfactory Markers of Alcohol Dependence?
Atanasova, B., Goumeidane, F., Kazour, F., Schmitt, H., Husson, M., Gaillard, P., el-Hage, W., & Ballon, N. (2016) · Chemical Sensors · doi:10.1093/chemse/bjw097
Nosova, Y., Avrunin, O., Glasmacher, B., Gryshkov, O., & Shusliapina, N. O. (2018) · doi:10.18154/rwth-conv-224926
“Topical are the problems associated with the prediction and evaluation of the functional results of endonasal surgery, which, in the case of respiratory and olfactory disorders [1-3], are the condition of air passage through the superior nasal passage and the restoration of olfactory sensitivity.”
Background
Metadata
- Authors
- Boesveldt, S., Lindau, S. T., McClintock, M. K., Hummel, T., & Lundstrom, J. N.
- Affiliations
- Monell Chemical Senses Center (US)
- University of Chicago (US)
- Venue
- Rhinology journal
- Publisher
- Stichting Nase
- Published
- 2011-08-01
- Volume
- 49
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 324-330
- ISSN
- 0300-0729 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC3775551
- OpenAlex
- W1604682220
- Cited by
- 142
- References
- 47
- Citations by year
- 2026: 5 · 2025: 6 · 2024: 10 · 2023: 11 · 2022: 9 · 2021: 14 · 2020: 14 · 2019: 13 · 2018: 11 · 2017: 11 · 2016: 12 · 2015: 8 · 2014: 4 · 2013: 7 · 2012: 5
- FWCI
- 2.76
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Rhinology Journal (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Socio-Environmental Systems Modeling (acceptedVersion)
- Data Archiving and Networked Services (DANS) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Funders
- National Institutes of Health
- National Institute on Aging (R01AG021487)
- Office of AIDS Research
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Sensory Systems › Olfactory and Sensory Function Studies
- Health Sciences › Nursing › Nutrition and Dietetics › Biochemical Analysis and Sensing Techniques
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Biomedical Engineering › Advanced Chemical Sensor Technologies
- Keywords
- gustatory dysfunction, olfactory dysfunction, older adults, chemosensory function, odor identification, taste identification, prevalence, sociodemographic factors, depressive symptoms, body mass index, sex differences
- MeSH terms
- Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Olfaction Disorders, Cross-Sectional Studies, Depression, Female, Health Status, Humans, Male, Mental Health, Middle Aged, Regression Analysis, Taste Disorders, Comorbidity, Body Mass Index, Prevalence
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