Research has demonstrated a reduction in olfactory functioning in patients with schizophrenia. This research has led to examination of olfactory functioning in other mental disorders, such as depression. There is a great deal of variation in the results generated from such research, and it remains unclear as to how olfactory functioning is associated with or impacted by depression.
The current review examined the literature in accordance with PRISMA guidelines in order to generate a better understanding of this relationship and to identify if and what aspects of olfactory processing are altered. Through examination of the available literature from the databases PubMed, Ovid Medline, CINAL, and PsychINFO, 15 manuscripts were selected to determine if there was a difference in olfactory processing-specifically central and peripheral processing-between depressed individuals and non-depressed controls.
The comparison of the 15 studies showed that the majority of studies (9/15, 60%) found a difference in overall olfactory functioning between depressed individuals and non-depressed controls (p < 0.05).
There is still a lack of definitive conclusions due to variation of which olfactory process was altered.
Given the differences in the methodology and design of these studies, a possible solution that could eliminate the lack of clarity and reduce variation would be to adhere to a single, thorough methodology that examines and separates central and peripheral olfactory processing. Future research employing a uniform and validated methodology could provide more definitive conclusions as to how and if olfactory functioning is related depression.
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 12. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 21 June 2023.
All research outputs
#2,982,968
of 26,160,558 outputs
Outputs from Frontiers in Psychiatry
#1,795
of 13,010 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#52,829
of 332,913 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Frontiers in Psychiatry
#22
of 86 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 26,160,558 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done well and is in the 88th percentile: it's in the top 25% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 13,010 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 11.6. This one has done well, scoring higher than 86% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 332,913 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has done well, scoring higher than 84% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 86 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 73% of its contemporaries.
