Prevalence of parosmia: the Skövde population-based studies.
OBJECTIVE
Parosmia can be defined as a qualitative odor distortion. Despite the consequences of this condition for quality of life, the scientific literature lacks information about the prevalence of parosmia in the general population, which was the objective of the present study.


METHODS
Random samples of 1,900 adult and 401 teenage inhabitants, stratified for age and gender, were drawn from the municipal population register of Skövde, Sweden. In total, 1,713 individuals (74% of the samples) agreed to participate, of which 1,387 (73%) were adults and 326 (81%) were teenagers. They responded to a question about parosmia by means of either a structured interview (adults) or a questionnaire (teenagers).


RESULTS
The overall prevalence of parosmia was 3.9% (4.0% in adults and 3.4% in teenagers), which was stable across gender, but differed somewhat between age groups, with highest prevalence in the age group 20-29 years.


CONCLUSIONS
The rather high overall prevalence, 3.9%, does indeed suggest that parosmia deserves attention when attempting to better understand olfactory dysfunction in clinical settings and in the general population of both adults and teenagers.
Nordin
Steven
S
Department of Psychology, Umeå University, Sweden. steven.nordin@psy.umu.se
Brämerson
Annika
A
Millqvist
Eva
E
Bende
Mats
M
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015508:Nasal Obstruction / Q000453:epidemiology; D000857:Olfaction Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology*; D011159:Population Surveillance; D015995:Prevalence; D012220:Rhinitis / Q000453:epidemiology; D012737:Sex Factors; D012907:Smoking / Q000453:epidemiology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013548:Sweden / Q000453:epidemiology; D014504:Urban Health / Q000706:statistics & numerical data