The following are the most important diseases or complications that may be contributed to by dysosmia (olfactory disorders):
Psyche – Nervous System (F00-F99; G00-G99).
- Depression (reactive to the olfactory disorder).
Symptoms and abnormal clinical and laboratory findings not elsewhere classified (R00-R99)
- Weight loss (in the absence of indulgence).
- Weight gain (e.g., in the case of selective taste perception for sweets).
Further
- Dangerous situations, e.g. intoxications (due toescaping gas, smoke development).
- Increased mortality rate (death rate).
- Of elderly persons presenting olfactory deficits; associated were older age, male sex, a dementia diagnosis, and low scores on the University of Pennsylvania Smell Identification Test (UPSIT). During follow-up (3-10 years), the mortality rate was 45% in the lowest quartile of UPSIT (anosmia; failure of olfaction) and 18% in the highest quartile of UPSIT
- Olfactory disorders in the elderly are associated with a significantly increased risk of mortality according to a prospective cohort study; 2,289 seniors underwent the Brief Smell Identification Test at baseline; after 13 years, 1,211 participants had died:
- Individuals who recognized ≤ 8 odors had a 46% increased risk of dying within the next 10 years (risk ratio 1.46; 95% confidence interval 1.27 to 1.67)
- Only in about 22% of cases was the increased risk of death explained by neurodegenerative disease; 6% of deaths could be attributed to weight loss; for the remaining 72%, no explanation could be found
- Social withdrawal, possibly also emergence of dangerous situations, as affected people can no longer adequately perceive fire, gas or mold smell.
Prognostic factors
Factors for a favorable prognosis are:
- Juvenile age
- Non-smoker
- Good residual creep
- Sideways smelling ability
- Initial parosmia (altered olfaction; typical for olfactory disorders after viral infections).
- Shorter period of time since the onset of the olfactory disorder.
- Large volume of the bulbus olfactorius
