Covid shows us the importance of smell in cognitive health

In this podcast, Prof. Leslie Kay of The University of Chicago and Associate Editor for the Journal of Neurophysiology discusses her review article “COVID-19 and olfactory dysfunction: a looming wave of dementia?” with Editor in Chief Prof. Nino Ramirez. We find ourselves in the middle of a global “experiment” on the mechanisms of dementia and the relationship between our sense of smell and our ability to think. In many diseases that end in dementia, one of the early signs is olfactory dysfunction, often associated with degeneration in the olfactory bulb. More than 15 million people worldwide experience persistent COVID-19 olfactory changes, possibly caused by olfactory bulb damage. These data suggest a wave of post-COVID dementia in the coming decades, similar to the type of dementia seen in Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases. We can seize this gruesome opportunity to understand the involvement of the olfactory system in cognitive health. This will require intense study and increased resources to find treatments for smell dysfunction.

 

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