Abstrakt
Isolated congenital anosmia (ICA) is characterized by the lack of the sense of smell since birth in otherwise healthy people. Although this phenomenon is known among clinicians, there is only little knowledge about how these people cope with this serious handicap.
Questionnaires of 32 patients with ICA (aged 18-46 years) were analyzed. ICA was diagnosed using detailed medical history, psychophysical examination, electrophysical measurements, and magnetic resonance imaging.
Forty healthy participants (aged 18-57 years) served as controls. The smell disorder was noted first at the age of 11 years; mean age at the medical diagnosis was 20 years.
About one-third of the patients avoid talking about the disorder. If they could, many of them would like to smell food (35%), parfume (23%), their spouse (16%), or "nature" (12%).
Both groups did not differ significantly in weight, height, Body Mass Index, or eating behavior. However, almost all of the controls named preferred food with only one component, while ICA-patients significantly more often named preferred food with more than one component.
ICA- patients reported more household accidents than healthy controls. ICApatients also reported more worries about social situations than controls.
There was no significant difference between both groups in the partnership status or satisfaction with their partnership. However, ICA-patients reported to have had significantly less sexual partners than controls.
Finally, ICA-patients exhibited higher scores in the Depression Inventory compared to controls. Overall differences between the two groups are relatively subtle.
ICA seems to be a handicap patients can cope with very well.