Olfactory identification in elderly Greek people in relation to memory and attention measures.

The University of Pennsylvania Smell Identification Test (UPSIT) and the Cross-Cultural Smell Identification Test (CC-SIT) were administered to nondemented Greek participants ranging in age from 49 to 88 years together with tests of verbal memory from the Wechsler Memory Scale-3rd Edition (WMS-III). The test scores of the sample administered the CC-SIT were compared with the test scores of the 12 analogous UPSIT items of the sample administered the UPSIT. The percent of individuals correctly identifying each of the odorants of the UPSIT and CC-SIT is reported, together with means and standard deviations (S.D.) of the total smell scores. UPSIT performance in both the full test and the 12 analogous items was associated with WMS-III Logical Memory I performance after accounting for the effects of age, education and gender. CC-SIT performance was associated with gender, score on the Beck Depression Inventory-II and Logical Memory I performance. The study shows that olfactory identification is associated with verbal memory in nondemented individuals after accounting for demographic variables.