| |
Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
 | |
|
| Olfactory acuity as a function of age and gender: a comparison of African and American samples | | Author(s) | Clifton E Barber |
| Journal title | International Journal of Aging and Human Development, vol 44, no 4, 1997 |
| Pages | pp 317-334 |
| Keywords | Smell [sense] ; Smell [sense] loss ; Older men ; Older men ; Cross cultural surveys ; Africa ; United States of America. |
| Annotation | A frequently reported finding in age-related sensory impairment is that olfaction declines with age, however, most studies have generally relied on data collected from samples drawn primarily from Western societies. Using international data from the 1986 National Geographic Smell Survey, responses of 19,219 American respondents and 3,204 African respondents were analysed. All were screened for factors negatively affecting olfaction. Measures of olfactory acuity included odour detection, identification, intensity and quality. The results indicate that some measures of olfactory acuity tend to decline across age groups, but that this decline is less marked than reported in previous studies. The most important finding is that loss of olfaction is not consistent or uniform between geographic regions of America or Africa, between male versus female respondents, or among the four measures of olfactory acuity. African respondents had significantly higher percentages of detection than did American respondents, women generally reported higher levels of olfactory functioning than did men, and some measures were stable across age groups, or were higher among older respondents. (AKM). |
| Accession Number | CPA-980827234 A |
| Classmark | BLQ: BLR: BC: BC: 3KA: 7J: 7T |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
|
| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
| |
|