Fraction of the population that has an olfactory problem

Range 1 - 3 %
Organism Human Homo sapiens
Reference Landis BN, Hummel T, Lacroix JS. Basic and clinical aspects of olfaction. Adv Tech Stand Neurosurg. 2005 30 :69-105. p.80 top paragraphPubMed ID16350453
Primary Source [117] Wysocki CJ, Gilbert AN (1989) National Geographic Smell Survey: effects of age are heterogenous. Ann NY Acad Sci 561: 12–28 [118] Hoffman HJ, Ishii EK, MacTurk RH (1998) Age-related changes in the prevalence of smell/taste problems among the United States adult population. Results of the 1994 disability supplement to the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS). Ann NY Acad Sci 855: 716–722PubMed ID2735671, 9929676
Comments P.79 bottom paragraph: "Since olfactory disorders or even total olfactory loss are far less of a handicap than blindness or deafness for the person concerned, there have not been many attempts to estimate the percentage of people with olfactory problems. Initial surveys were done with questionnaires and rapid smell tests. They revealed that approximately 1–3% of the population has an olfactory problem [primary sources]. Since most of the decrease in olfactory function, like any other sensory function, is due to aging [ref 119], this high incidence was not so astonishing in an aging society with an increasing mean age...Current consensus is that approximately 5 percent of the general population suffer from anosmia, unrelated to chronic nasal problems."
Entered by Uri M
ID 113597