Cognitive Function and Olfactory Impairment in Community-Dwelling Older Adults Attending a Salon

Background: Early detection, treatment, and care are important for the prevention of dementia. Though olfactory impairment has been reported to be associated with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), there are few reports involving community-dwelling older adults with no difficulty in daily life in Japan. Objective: This study aimed to identify the frequency of MCI in community-dwelling elderly people attending community salons in a city with a high aging population, and to determine the usefulness of a pocket olfactory discrimination test. Methods: We recruited 268 independent older adults attending community salons. The Japanese version of the MCI Screen was used to evaluate cognitive function, defining MCI as <49.8 out of 100 scores of the memory performance index (MPI). The Japanese version of the University of Pennsylvania Smell Identification Test (UPSIT-J) was used for olfactory discrimination and the number of correct answers out of 4 questions was noted. Results: Of the salon participants, 138 (51.5%) were classified as having MCI. As the number of correct answers on the olfactory test decreased, the percentage of participants with MCI increased. The MPI score of the low UPSIT score group was significantly lower than that of the high UPSIT score group. Conclusions: This study revealed that approximately half of the elderly local residents living without daily problems were suspected of having MCI. The UPSIT-J-4 is a simple olfactory identification test, and can be used at any time and any place. It is useful for screening cognitive function via olfactory identification in a salon-like setting.