Relationships between olfactory discrimination and head injury severity

The goal of this study was to examine the relationship between brain injury severity and scores on both an olfactory identification test and on many widely used neuropsychological tests in 367 patients with head injuries of varying levels of severity. It was hypothesized that valid olfactory test sc...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Brain injury 2003-06, Vol.17 (6), p.479-496
Main Authors: Green, Paul, Rohling, Martin L., Iverson, Grant L., Gervais, Roger O.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Amnesia - etiology
Amnesia - physiopathology
Biological and medical sciences
Brain Injuries - complications
Brain Injuries - pathology
Brain Injuries - physiopathology
Discrimination (Psychology) - physiology
Female
Frontal Lobe - physiopathology
Glasgow Coma Scale
Humans
Injuries of the nervous system and the skull. Diseases due to physical agents
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Male
Medical sciences
Middle Aged
Nervous System Diseases - physiopathology
Neuropsychological Tests
Olfaction Disorders - etiology
Olfaction Disorders - physiopathology
Severity of Illness Index
Sex Factors
Smell - physiology
Tomography, X-Ray Computed
Traumas. Diseases due to physical agents
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Summary:The goal of this study was to examine the relationship between brain injury severity and scores on both an olfactory identification test and on many widely used neuropsychological tests in 367 patients with head injuries of varying levels of severity. It was hypothesized that valid olfactory test scores would correlate highly with injury severity because both the olfactory nerves and the primary olfactory cortices are especially vulnerable to damage in closed head injury. After removing data of doubtful validity from cases failing effort tests, olfactory test scores were related to Glasgow Coma Scale scores (GCS), post-traumatic amnesia and radiological abnormalities more strongly than any of the neuropsychological test scores. Based on the assumption that post-traumatic amnesia is caused by a different mechanism than loss of core consciousness, it was also predicted that there would be no cases with a GCS less than 13 and with no post-traumatic amnesia. As predicted, there were no cases in this group. The results support previous studies showing greater olfactory impairment with increased severity of head injury.
ISSN:0269-9052
1362-301X
DOI:10.1080/0269905031000070242