Method for identifying moderate and severe cognitive impairment by specific odor

Abstract

The invention discloses a method for identifying early mild cognitive impairment by specific odor. The method comprises the following steps: (1) selecting a subject according to a group entering standard; (2) the subjects entering the group are grouped according to the MoCA scoring standard; (3) evaluating the olfactory function by using a Chinese odor recognition test-16 (CSIT-16); and (4) counting the odor recognition accuracy of different groups, and performing data analysis. According to the invention, people with moderate and severe cognitive impairment can be rapidly identified through specific smell, and a theoretical basis and an olfaction identification technology are provided for early screening of Alzheimer's disease. The method has very remarkable low-cost benefits, totally belongs to non-invasive distinct characteristics, is extremely simple and convenient in operation process, and is extremely expected to become an extremely reliable and reliable important tool for carrying out preliminary detection on the Alzheimer's disease in the future development process.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] The present application relates to the technical field of brain health assessment, in particular to an Alzheimer's disease assessment method. BACKGROUND

[0002] Human olfactory function declines with normal aging. Most people over 65 years of age have some degree of olfactory dysfunction, ranging from mild impairment to complete loss of smell. Although women generally have better olfactory function than men, there is no gender effect in individuals aged 65-74 years. Patients with neurodegenerative diseases often have severely impaired olfactory systems in the initial stage of the disease, and the scores of olfactory tests are significantly lower than those of normal elderly people, and the rate of deterioration of olfactory function is much higher than that of healthy people. In recent years, a large number of studies have shown that olfactory dysfunction is the earliest clinical manifestation of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and a clear marker of the pre-AD stage. Olfactory dysfunction exists in AD patients, and has shown a tendency of olfactory decline at the subjective cognitive decline stage, and the condition worsens with the progression of the disease. The results obtained through olfactory function assessment can predict cognitive function, and even identify elderly people with subjective cognitive decline (SCD) who are at risk of developing AD. In non-demented elderly people, low olfactory test scores are associated with future cognitive decline and an increased probability of being diagnosed with AD in the subsequent 5 years.

[0003] In addition, current studies have shown that specific odors identified by a brief odor identification test can predict future mortality, and results have found that smoke, gasoline, soap, and onion can predict mortality. Therefore, it is considered to further identify moderate to severe cognitive impairment through specific odors to help us implement preliminary screening and judgment in community cohort studies. SUMMARY

[0004] In order to make up for the defects of the existing methods, the present application provides a method for identifying moderate to severe cognitive impairment through specific odors.

[0005] The problem to be solved by the present application is solved by the following technical solution:

[0006] In the present application, the Chinese Smell Identification Test (CSIT) and the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) are applied simultaneously in the elderly population in Chinese communities, the correct rate of specific odor identification in each group is analyzed, and the specific odor for identifying moderate to severe cognitive impairment is obtained. It includes the following steps: (1) Select subjects according to the inclusion criteria; (2) Group the subjects enrolled in the group according to the MoCA score standard; (3) Use the Chinese smell identification test-16 (CSIT-16) to evaluate the olfactory function evaluation; (4) Statistics of the correct rate of smell identification of different groups, according to the statistical results to identify the risk of moderate to severe cognitive impairment.

[0007] The present application has the following beneficial effects:

[0008] In order to effectively solve the technical problems mentioned in the background art, the present application provides a method for identifying moderate to severe cognitive impairment by specific smell; wherein the olfactory function is evaluated by using the Chinese smell identification test-16 (CSIT-16), and the subjects are grouped according to the MoCA score standard.

[0009] The present application is expected to become an extremely reliable and trustworthy important tool for preliminary detection of Alzheimer's disease.

[0010] The experimental results show that the moderate cognitive impairment patients cannot correctly identify the smell of garlic, rose, fennel and longan (garlic OR = 18.102, 95% CI: 1.941-168.869; rose OR = 2.298, 95% CI: 1.073-4.922; fennel OR = 5.210, 95% CI: 2.427-11.188; longan OR = 4.863, 95% CI: 2.238-10.564;), and the smell of garlic, rose, fennel and longan has statistical significance in distinguishing whether it is moderate cognitive impairment (p<0.05).

[0011] The experimental results show that the severe cognitive impairment patients cannot correctly identify the smell of garlic (OR = 151.740, 95% CI: 4.736-4861.682), and the smell of garlic has statistical significance in distinguishing whether it is severe cognitive impairment (p<0.05). DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0012] Example 1

[0013] Subject

[0014] Inclusion criteria: 1) age over 50 years; 2) voluntary or with guardian's consent to participate in the study and sign the informed consent form. Exclusion criteria: 1) history of dementia other than Alzheimer's disease with a clear cause; 2) history of mental and psychiatric diseases such as severe anxiety, depression, schizophrenia, and obvious mental abnormalities; 3) history of systemic diseases that seriously affect the ability to live independently; 4) long-term use of psychotropic drugs; 5) history of craniocerebral trauma with sequelae; 6) refusal to cooperate or unable to complete cognitive function tests; 7) incomplete clinical data; 8) presence of related diseases such as nasal polyps, nasal septum curvature, nasal tumors, or nasal trauma.

[0015] Face-to-face interview and cognitive function assessment

[0016] The tester interviewed the participants to obtain general information, personal history, medical history, and family history. The participants underwent the Chinese version of the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA, Chinese Version) to assess their performance in 7 cognitive domains: visuospatial and executive function, naming ability, attention, language repetition and fluency, abstract description and summary ability, delayed memory, and orientation ability.

[0017] Olfactory function assessment

[0018] Olfaction was assessed using the Chinese Smell Identification Test-16 (CSIT-16), which detected the subject's olfactory identification through 16 olfactory identification test sticks (including orange, apricot juice, garlic, chocolate, coffee, perfume, sesame oil, fried fish, banana, rose, anise, apple, dried longan lemon, pineapple, and soy sauce) in combination with the olfactory function test software. Each stick presented one odor, and the odors were not repeated between sticks. In each test, the subject was presented with the odor of one stick and asked to choose the correct odor name from four options.

[0019] The screening results were as follows:

[0020] A total of 573 community residents over the age of 50 were enrolled in the study. According to the MoCA score criteria, they were divided into 4 groups: normal group (MoCA ≥ 26 points), group A; mild cognitive impairment group (MoCA 18-25 points), group B; moderate cognitive impairment group (MoCA 10-17 points), group C; and severe cognitive impairment group (MoCA < 10 points), group D.

[0021] Table 1 Correct rate of odor identification in normal and moderate-to-severe cognitive impairment groups

[0022] Table 2: Comparison of odor recognition accuracy between normal group and moderate cognitive impairment group

[0023] Table 3: Binary logistic regression analysis of normal group and moderate cognitive impairment group

[0024] Table 4: Binary logistic regression analysis of normal group and severe cognitive impairment group

[0025] As shown in Table 2, there was no significant difference in the correct recognition of soy sauce odor between the normal group and the moderate cognitive impairment group (p>0.05), and there was a statistically significant difference in the correct recognition of 16 odors between the normal group and the severe cognitive impairment group (p<0.05).

[0026] As shown in Table 3, after screening, garlic, rose, fennel, and longan odors were statistically significant in distinguishing whether it was moderate cognitive impairment (p<0.05). Correctly identifying garlic, rose, fennel, and longan odors reduced the risk of moderate cognitive impairment (garlic OR=18.102, 95% CI: 1.941-168.869; rose OR=2.298, 95% CI: 1.073-4.922; fennel OR=5.210, 95% CI: 2.427-11.188; longan OR=4.863, 95% CI: 2.238-10.564;).

[0027] As shown in Table 4, after screening, garlic odor was statistically significant in distinguishing whether it was severe cognitive impairment (p<0.05); correctly identifying garlic odor reduced the risk of severe cognitive impairment (OR=151.740, 95% CI: 4.736-4861.682).

[0028] The above-described embodiments only express the implementation of the present application, which is described in detail and specifically, but should not be understood as a limitation on the scope of the patent of the present application. Any technical solution obtained by equivalent substitution or equivalent transformation shall fall within the protection scope of the present application.

Claims

1. A method for identifying moderate to severe cognitive impairment using specific odors, characterized in that, It includes the following steps: (1) Select subjects according to the inclusion criteria; (2) Group the subjects according to the MoCA scoring criteria; (3) Use the Chinese Odor Identification Test-16 (CSIT-16) to assess olfactory function; (4) Calculate the odor identification accuracy of different groups and identify the risk of moderate to severe cognitive impairment based on the statistical results.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that, Step (1) includes: Select participants aged 50 and above; Subjects voluntarily or with the consent of their guardians, sign the relevant informed consent form; Subjects with a clear history of non-Alzheimer's dementia, severe mental illness, systemic disease, long-term use of psychotropic drugs, traumatic brain injury, inability to cooperate with cognitive function tests, incomplete clinical data collection, or related diseases such as nasal polyps, deviated nasal septum, nasal tumors, or nasal trauma were excluded.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein, In step (2), the subjects are divided into the following four groups according to the MoCA scoring criteria: Normal group (MoCA ≥ 26 points); Mild cognitive impairment group (MoCA 18-25 points); Moderate cognitive impairment group (MoCA 10-17 points); Severe cognitive impairment group (MoCA < 10 points).

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein, Step (3) specifically involves using the Chinese Odor Identification Test-16 (CSIT-16), which includes 16 olfactory identification test sticks, including: orange, almond milk, garlic, chocolate, coffee, floral water, sesame oil, fried fish, banana, rose, fennel, apple, dried longan, lemon, pineapple, and soy sauce. Each olfactory identification test stick presents one odor, and the odors of the test sticks are not repeated. In each test, the odor of one test stick is presented, and the subject selects the name of the smell from four options.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein, In step (4), the smells of garlic, rose, fennel, and longan were statistically significant in distinguishing between moderate cognitive impairment (p < 0.05). Correctly identifying the smells of garlic, rose, fennel, and longan reduced the risk of developing moderate cognitive impairment (Garlic OR = 18.102, 95% CI: 1.941-168.869; Rose OR = 2.298, 95% CI: 1.073-4.922; Fennel OR = 5.210, 95% CI: 2.427-11.188; Longan OR = 4.863, 95% CI: 2.238-10.564).

6. The method according to claim 4, wherein, In step (4), the smell of garlic was statistically significant in distinguishing between severe cognitive impairment (p < 0.05); correctly identifying the smell of garlic reduced the risk of developing severe cognitive impairment (OR = 151.740, 95% CI: 4.736-4861.682).

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