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World J Psychiatr. Dec 19, 2021; 11(12): 1259-1266
Published online Dec 19, 2021. doi: 10.5498/wjp.v11.i12.1259
Mechanism of olfactory deficit in neurotrauma and its related affective distress: A narrative review
Mark Logan, Siddharth Kapoor, Luke Peterson, Martin Oliveira, Dong Y Han
Mark Logan, Department of Neurology, UK HealthCare, Lexington, KY 40536, United States
Siddharth Kapoor, Dong Y Han, Department of Neurology, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40536, United States
Luke Peterson, Department of Psychology, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT 06269, United States
Martin Oliveira, Department of Neuropsychology, Neuro Health of Connecticut, West Hartford, CT 06107, United States
Author contributions: Logan M, Kapoor S, Peterson L, Oliveira M, and Han DY all collected the literature review and wrote the manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: None.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Dong Y Han, PsyD, Chief Doctor, Professor, Department of Neurology, University of Kentucky, 740 S. Limestone, Lexington, KY 40536, United States. d.han@uky.edu
Received: March 31, 2021
Peer-review started: March 31, 2021
First decision: July 15, 2021
Revised: July 29, 2021
Accepted: November 13, 2021
Article in press: November 13, 2021
Published online: December 19, 2021
Processing time: 258 Days and 13 Hours
Abstract

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is among the leading causes of death and disability all over the globe. TBI is also commonly associated with clinical sequelae of posttraumatic depression, and reports of other subsequent affective distress are common. Similarly, posttraumatic changes in chemoreceptive sensory functions, primarily due to coup-contrecoup injury induced shearing of the olfactory nerve fibers, leading to anosmia and ageusia are also well documented in the literature. However, the current literature is limited in addressing the intersections between said variables. The aim of this study was to provide a focused narrative review of the literature, to address these intersections found in clinical sequelae of TBI. As chemoreceptive sensory deficits are also linked to significant affective distress of their own, this review addresses the bidirectionality between sensory deficit and affective distress. Prevalence, demographics, mechanisms, and clinical implications are presented. Previous research is presented and discussed, in an effort to highlight the importance of consideration for all factors in TBI patient care and future research.

Keywords: Brain injuries; Brain injuries, traumatic; Anosmia; Depression; Affective symptoms; Smell

Core Tip: In neurotrauma, coup-contrecoup injury induced shearing of olfactory fibers commonly leads to bilateral anosmia or severe hyposmia, and related ageusia. Post-traumatic sensory loss and depression are common in patients. All three variables’ intersections in traumatic brain injury’s clinical sequelae are discussed.