Weird Diagnostic Science

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania have developed a test for early diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease. The test is called the University of Pennsylvania Smell Identification Test, according to US News.

Low smell test scores, or the decreased ability to identify odors correctly, correlated with dementia and Alzheimer's disease and appeared to predict cognitive decline.

Our research showed that odor identification impairment, and to a lesser degree, entorhinal cortical thickness, were predictors of the transition to dementia. These findings support odor identification as an early predictor, and suggest that impairment in odor identification may precede thinning in the entorhinal cortex in the early clinical stage of Alzheimer's disease.

At present, Alzheimer's disease can only be clinically identified in its later stages, after the brain is severely damaged. Approxi-mately 5.4 million Americans have Alzheimer's, according to the Alzheimer's Association.

Hat tip to Drudge Report for the link.