Presentation Details
| Olfaction impairment in older adults: Associations with health beyond COVID-19 and neurodegeneration Honglei Chen. Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI |
Abstract
Despite the recent COVID-19 pandemic, public awareness of olfactory loss in the general population remains low. This is particularly concerning for the health of older adults, as the prevalence of hyposmia increases quickly from ~6% at age 50 to ~60% by age 80. Currently, our understanding of olfactory loss and the health of older adults is limited primarily to its role as an early warning sign for neurodegenerative diseases. Emerging evidence, however, suggests that olfactory impairment may signal deteriorating health in older adults across multiple domains and may indicate accelerated aging. Furthermore, the olfactory system is uniquely positioned at the interface between the human body and the environment, offering an opportunity to explore how environmental factors may affect the health of older adults. In this symposium, we will discuss how olfaction may inform healthy aging, extending beyond COVID-19 and neurodegeneration. The first two speakers will discuss recent epidemiological findings on olfaction, physical function, and disease outcomes of aging beyond neurodegeneration. The third speaker will present multi-omics findings from cohort studies to inform the biological mechanisms and pathways linking olfaction to aging outcomes. The final presentation will brainstorm innovative ideas, identify knowledge gaps, discuss challenges, and develop strategies for exploring this concept. Notably, real-world epidemiological data from population-based studies have been underrepresented at the AChemS meeting. We anticipate that this symposium will generate significant interest among scientists at the 2026 AChemS meeting and encourage a lively discussion on new opportunities to investigate how the olfactory system connects to a range of human physiological functions in the context of aging.
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No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the author.