Unawareness of smell loss in normal aging and Alzheimer's disease: discrepancy between self-reported and diagnosed smell sensitivity.

Awareness of loss in smell sensitivity was assessed in 80 normal elderly subjects, 80 patients with probable Alzheimer's disease (AD), and 80 patients with sinusitis by comparing measured smell sensitivity to questionnaire-based, self-reported sensitivity. Both AD patients and sinusitis patients had significantly poorer diagnosed smell sensitivity than the normal elderly. Both patient groups had thresholds which on average were about nine times more concentrated than those of the normal elderly. However, 74% of the AD patients and 77% of the normal elderly with smell loss reported normal smell sensitivity. In contrast, only 8% of the sinusitis patients with loss reported normal smell sensitivity.