loss of smell early sign in 90% of Parkinson's patients

A certain type of sleep disorder, decline in sense of smell and depression may not only be preclinical signs of Parkinson's disease (PD)- they may be part of the disease itself.

"About 90% of patients have impaired olfactory function", says Dr. Harold Roberston, professor of pharmacology at Dalhousie Univeristy in an article in the Medical Post in April 2009.

Roberton is using a smell test known as the Univeristy of Pennsylvania smell test (UPSIT) to screen brothers and sisters of PD patients, If they have a decline in the sense of smell, they do a MRI and look at the olfactory tract to see if there are any changes.

It is still too non- specific to use as a screening test for Parkinson's. But certainly a symptom worth paying attention to if it does occur.

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