Association of olfactory and gustatory function with memory among community-dwelling independent older adults.

BACKGROUND: This study examined the association between memory function and reduced olfactory and gustatory function among independent community-dwelling older adults.

METHODS: This cross-sectional study included 127 older adults (65.4% women). We assessed their memory, odor, and taste identification skills. Open essence (OE) test and taste strips (TS) were used to identify hyposmia (OE test ≤6) and hypogeusia (TS test ≤8), respectively.

RESULTS: Participants with severe hyposmia had significantly poorer memory functions compared to participants without severe hyposmia. After adjusting for covariates, multivariate logistic regression models revealed a significant association between immediate recognition performance and a decreased likelihood of severe hyposmia (odds ratio = 0.65, 95% confidence interval = 0.47-0.90). We observed no significant association between taste function and memory.

CONCLUSIONS: Memory function may be associated with olfactory impairment but not with gustatory function in older adults.