ReviewEnvironmental health perspectives2016
Effects of Ambient Air Pollution Exposure on Olfaction: A Review.
Review in Environmental health perspectives, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 72 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
72 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 167 citations in OpenAlex.
- A systematic review of air pollution exposure and brain structure and function during development.Environmental research · 2025Pooled it
- Smoking and olfactory dysfunction: A systematic literature review and meta-analysis.The Laryngoscope · 2017Pooled it
- Assessing the Mediating Roles of Global Sensory Impairment, Social Isolation, and Loneliness in the Association Between Education and Cognitive Function.Journal of applied gerontology : the official journal of the Southern Gerontological Society · 2026Article
- Quantifying Olfactory and Alveolar Deposition of Ultrafine Particles Using Multiscale Modeling: Implications for Brain Exposure.Environmental science & technology · 2026Article
- Nasal Mucosal Heavy Metal Accumulation, Olfactory Dysfunction, and Histopathological Changes: A Prospective Clinical Study.Journal of clinical medicine · 2026Article
- Effect of pollution on the prevalence of obesity, diabetic complications and olfactory dysfunction in diabetic patients.Journal of endocrinological investigation · 2026Article
- Racial and ethnic differences in the associations of sensory impairments with cognition in older United States adults.Journal of Alzheimer's disease : JAD · 2026Article
- Ozone-induced Neurotoxicity: Mechanistic Insights and Implications for Neurodegenerative Diseases.Current medicinal chemistry · 2026Review
- Association between traffic-related air pollution and brain morphology, assessing the olfactory pathway as a mediator.Brain communications · 2026Article
- Healthy lifestyle mitigates the adverse association of particulate matter with cognitive function: a 10-year longitudinal analysis of older adults in China.The journals of gerontology. Series A, Biological sciences and medical sciences · 2025Article
- Non-contact radiofrequency stimulation to the olfactory nerve of human subjects.APL bioengineering · 2025Article
- Ambient Air Pollution and Smell Function: Evidence from the National Geographic Smell Survey.medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences · 2025Article
- Exploring the Relationship Between Obstructive Sleep Apnea and Olfactory Function.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Longitudinal Association of Olfactory Function with Frailty in Older Adults: The Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study.The journals of gerontology. Series A, Biological sciences and medical sciences · 2025Article
- The Role of Air Pollution and Olfactory Dysfunction in Alzheimer's Disease Pathogenesis.Biomedicines · 2025Review
- Impact of Particulate Matter 2.5 on Neurological Diseases: Insights Into Pathophysiological and Molecular Mechanisms.Journal of toxicology · 2025Review
- Ambient air pollution undermines chemosensory sensitivity - a global perspective.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Transcriptomic and epigenomic profiling reveals altered responses to diesel emissions in Alzheimer's disease both in vitro and in population-based data.Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association · 2024Article
- Air Pollution as an Environmental Risk Factor for Alzheimer's Disease and Related Dementias.Medical research archives · 2024Article
- A Systematic Review of Air Pollution Exposure and Brain Structure and Function during Development.medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences · 2024Article
12 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundOlfactory dysfunction affects millions of people worldwide. This sensory impairment is associated with neurodegenerative disease and significantly decreased quality of life. Exposure to airborne pollutants has been implicated in olfactory decline, likely due to the anatomic susceptibility of the olfactory nerve to the environment. Historically, studies have focused on occupational exposures, but more recent studies have considered effects from exposure to ambient air pollutants.
objectivesTo examine all relevant human data evaluating a link between ambient pollution exposure and olfaction and to review supporting animal data in order to examine potential mechanisms for pollution-associated olfactory loss.
methodsWe identified and reviewed relevant articles from 1950 to 2015 using PubMed and Web of Science and focusing on human epidemiologic and pathophysiologic studies. Animal studies were included only to support pertinent data on humans. We reviewed findings from these studies evaluating a relationship between environmental pollutant exposure and olfactory function.
resultsWe identified and reviewed 17 articles, with 1 additional article added from a bibliography search, for a total of 18 human studies. There is evidence in human epidemiologic and pathologic studies that increased exposure to ambient air pollutants is associated with olfactory dysfunction. However, most studies have used proxies for pollution exposure in small samples of convenience. Human pathologic studies, with supporting animal work, have also shown that air pollution can contact the olfactory epithelium, translocate to the olfactory bulb, and migrate to the olfactory cortex. Pollutants can deposit at each location, causing direct damage and disruption of tissue morphology or inducing local inflammation and cellular stress responses.
conclusionsAmbient air pollution may impact human olfactory function. Additional studies are needed to examine air pollution-related olfactory impacts on the general population using measured pollution exposures and to link pollution exposure with olfactory dysfunction and related pathology. Citation: Ajmani GS, Suh HH, Pinto JM. 2016. Effects of ambient air pollution exposure on olfaction: a review. Environ Health Perspect 124:1683-1693; http://dx.doi.org/10.1289/EHP136.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.