Open AccessPrevalence and correlates of parosmia and phantosmia among smell disorders
Author(s) -
Robert Pellegrino,
Joel D. Mainland,
Chris Kelly,
Jane K. Parker,
Thomas Hummel
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
chemical senses
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.856
H-Index - 100
eISSN - 1464-3553
pISSN - 0379-864X
DOI - 10.1093/chemse/bjab046
Subject(s) - hyposmia , anosmia , odor , audiology , olfaction , population , medicine , sniffing , psychology , disease , environmental health , neuroscience , anatomy , covid-19 , infectious disease (medical specialty)
Among those many individuals who experience a reduced odor sensitivity (hyposmia/anosmia), some individuals also have disorders that lead to odor distortion, such as parosmia (i.e. distorted odor with a known source), or odor phantoms (i.e. odor sensation without an odor source). We surveyed a large population with at least one olfactory disorder (N = 2031) and found that odor distortions were common (46%), with respondents reporting either parosmia (19%), phantosmia (11%), or both (16%). In comparison to respondents with hyposmia or anosmia, respondents with parosmia were more likely to be female, young, and suffering from post-viral olfactory loss (P < 0.001), while respondents with phantosmia were more likely to be middle-aged (P < 0.01) and experiencing symptoms caused by head trauma (P < 0.01). In addition, parosmia, compared to phantosmia or anosmia/hyposmia, was most prevalent 3 months to a year after olfactory symptom onset (P < 0.001), which coincides with the timeline of physiological recovery. Finally, we observed that the frequency and duration of distortions negatively affects the quality of life, with parosmia showing a higher range of severity than phantosmia (P < 0.001). Previous research often grouped these distortions together, but our results show that they have distinct patterns of demographics, medical history, and loss in quality of life.