The Effectiveness of Olfactory Training in Elderly with Anosmia Evidence Base Case Report

Olfactory disturbance increases with age and should not be ignored. Olfactory training (OT) is cheap, easy to perform and considered as a treatment to overcome anosmia in the elderly. The aim of this case study was to found the effectiveness of olfactory training in elderly by evidence report. This literature review was conducted using EBSCOhost, PubMed, and ProQuest. Clinical question used in this paper was “does olfactory training give advantages for olfaction in elderly?” Search was performed using keywords ((“olfactory training” AND (elderly OR Older OR old age)). Inclusion criteria were published in 2007–2017, therapeutic study, cohort method, in vivo, human sample, English language and available in full text. Exclusion criteria were studies that performed additional examinations such as histopathology or imaging procedure, or sample had neurodegenerative diseases. From the searching method, we found two relevant articles. The first article was a randomized controlled trial, not blinded, and enrolled 91 subjects (60 OT groups, 31 control groups); significant improvement on olfactory function was found in OT groups after 5 months. The second article enrolled 91 subjects (43 OT groups, 48 control groups) but didn’t find significant improvement of olfactory function after 3 months follow-up. Olfactory training may be an option to treat olfactory disturbance in elderly, but requires more researches with blinded, randomized controlled trial methods, and on longer period.