强烈的嗅觉可能有利于长寿

强烈的嗅觉可能有利于长寿

Older adults with a poor sense of smell may die sooner than those who have a better sense of smell, a new study suggests.

一项新的研究表明，嗅觉差的老年人可能比嗅觉好的老年人更早死亡。

The study was a project of researchers in the United States that was ongoing for over 13 years. They asked nearly 2,300 men and women to identify 12 common smells. All the subjects were from 71 to 82 years of age.

这项研究是美国研究人员的一个项目，已经持续了13年。他们测试了将近2300名男性和女性，让他们识别12种常见的气味。所有受试者均为71-82岁之间。

The researchers gave the adults scores, from zero to as high as 12, based on how many smells they identified correctly.

研究人员根据他们正确识别的气味数量，给出了成年人分数，从零到最高12分。

During 13 years of follow-up investigation, over 1,200 of the subjects died.

在13年的后续调查中，超过1200名受试者死亡。

When the study was launched, none of the adults were weak. They could walk a little under half a kilometer, climb 10 steps and independently complete daily activities.

当这项研究开始的时候，没有一个受试者是虚弱的。他们可以步行不到半公里，爬10层楼，独立完成日常活动。

In the latest findings, the researchers noted that those with a weak nose were 30 percent more likely to die by year 13 than people with a good sense of smell. The findings were reported last month in the scientific publication Annals of Internal Medicine.

在最新的发现中，研究人员注意到，13年间，那些嗅觉较弱的人比嗅觉良好的人死亡的可能性高出30%。这项发现在上个月发表在科学刊物“内科学年鉴”上。

Honglei Chen was the lead writer of a report on the study. He is a doctor with Michigan State University in East Lansing, Michigan.

陈洪磊是这项研究报告的主要作者，他是密歇根州东兰辛密歇根州立大学的一名医生。

Chen said the connection between a poor sense of smell and an increased risk of dying was limited to adults who first reported good-to-excellent health. This suggests that a poor sense of smell is an early and sensitive sign for worsening health before it is recognizable in medical tests.

陈说，嗅觉差和死亡风险增加之间的联系仅限于那些在首次报告中健康状况良好的成年人。这表明，在医学测试识别出来之前，嗅觉不佳是健康恶化的早期敏感迹象。

“Poor sense of smell is likely an important health marker in older adults beyond what we have already known about,” noted Chen. He was talking about links to memory loss through dementia, Parkinson’s disease, a poor diet and safety risks.

陈说：“嗅觉不良很可能是老年人健康的一个重要标志，这超出了我们已经知道的范围。”他说的是与痴呆、帕金森病、不良饮食和安全风险有关的记忆丧失。

People who started out the study in excellent or good health were 62 percent more likely to die by year 10 if they had a poor sense of smell, his team reported. But smell did not appear to make a meaningful difference in death rates for people who were in fair to poor health at the start of the study.

他的研究小组报告说，以优秀或良好的身体状况开始这项研究的人，如果嗅觉不好的话，在10年内死亡的可能性要高出62%。但是嗅觉似乎并没有对那些在研究开始时身体状况不佳的人的死亡率产生有意义的影响。

With a poor sense of smell, people were more likely to die of brain and heart diseases, but not of cancer or breathing disorders.

嗅觉不好的话，人们更有可能死于大脑和心脏疾病，而不是癌症或呼吸紊乱。

The results also suggest that a poor sense of smell may be an early warning for poor health in older age that goes beyond dementia or other neurodegenerative diseases. These often signal the beginning of a weakening of the mind or body.

研究结果还表明，嗅觉不良可能是老年人健康状况不佳的早期预警，而不仅仅是痴呆症或其他神经退行性疾病的预警，这些通常都是精神或身体衰弱开始的信号。

Dementia and Parkinson’s disease explained only 22 percent of the higher death risk tied to a poor sense of smell. Weight loss explained just six percent of this connection, researchers estimated. That leaves more than 70 percent of the higher mortality rates tied to a weak nose unexplained.

痴呆症和帕金森氏症只解释了22%的高死亡风险与嗅觉不良有关。研究人员估计，减肥因素只占其中的6%。剩下超过70%的高死亡率与嗅觉不良之间的关系暂时无法解释。

The connection between a poor sense of smell and mortality risk did not appear to change based on sex or race. It also did not change based on individuals’ other qualities, such as the way they live or ongoing health conditions.

嗅觉差与死亡风险之间的联系似乎没有因性别或种族而改变，它也没有因个人的其他素质而改变，例如他们的生活方式或持续的健康状况。

One limitation of the study is that the older adults were relatively active. This makes it possible that results might be different for younger people or for individuals who are weak, the study noted.

研究的一个局限性是老年人相对活跃。研究指出，这使得年轻人和身体虚弱的人的结果可能有所不同。

Researchers also only tested smell at one point in time. They did not look at whether changes in subjects’ ability to smell over time might influence mortality. Researchers also lacked information about medical causes of a weak sense of smell.

研究人员也只在某一时刻测试了嗅觉，他们没有研究随着时间推移，受试者嗅觉能力的变化是否会影响死亡率，研究人员也缺乏关于导致嗅觉微弱的医学原因方面的信息。

Annals of Internal Medicine published an editorial with the report.

“内科年鉴”发表了这篇报告的社论。

In it, Vidyulata Kamath noted that as people age, they may not know their sense of smell is worsening. For that reason, doctors may want to test the sense of smell in older patients who are at risk of disease or injury.

在社论中，Vidyulata Kamath指出，随着人们年龄的增长，他们可能不知道自己的嗅觉正在恶化。由于这个原因，医生们可能想要测试那些有疾病或受伤风险的老年患者的嗅觉。

Kamath is with the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore.

Kamath是巴尔的摩约翰霍普金斯大学医学院的工作人员。

“The take-home message is that a loss in the sense of smell may serve as a bellwether for declining health,” Kamath wrote.

Kamath写道：“得到的信息是，嗅觉上的损失可能会成为健康状况下降的领头羊。”

I’m Pete Musto.

皮特·穆斯托报道。

Words in This Story

score(s) – n. the number of points that someone gets for correct answers on a test or exam

beyond – prep. more than something

neurodegenerative – adj. causing the brain or nerves to become weaker or less able to function as time passes

mortality – n. the death of a person or animal

bellwether – n. someone or something that leads others or shows what will happen in the future