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Abstract:
Over 90% of the global population live with air pollution
above the WHO limit, and these numbers continue to in-
crease. Exposure to outdoor air pollution has been linked
to cardiovascular disease, stroke, chronic obstructive pul-
monary disease and lung cancer, oxidative stress as well as an
increase in the risk for acute respiratory infections. Although
pollution is largely harmful to the respiratory system, we
only have started to collect information about its potential
effects on the sense of smell. Lifetimes of particles present in
the atmospheric air has been confirmed to be strongly linked
with olfactory sensitivity in humans (Williams, Ringsdorf,
2020), further supporting the notion that atmospheric con-
ditions alter olfactory perception. A few reports including
adults representing indigenous tribes suggest lower olfac-
tory sensitivity to be related with lesser exposure to air pol-
lution (Sorokowska, Sorokowski, Hummel, Huanca, 2013).
In line with this, residents of the rural Tlaxcala character-
ized by low air pollution have been found more sensitive to
odors than the inhabitants of highly polluted Mexico City
(Guarneros, Hummel, Martínez-Góme, Hudson, 2009). In
the present study, we compare the olfactory sensitivity of in-
dividual subjects (n=811) inhabiting 11 locations across the
globe with the composition of atmosphere pollutants. The
aim of this analysis is to estimate the overall relationship be-
tween air pollution and olfactory sensitivity, and further to
point to the most harmful atmospheric pollutants for our
sense of smell.
Funding Acknowledgments: This study was supported
by the National Science Center OPUS grant (2020/39/B/
HS6/01533) awarded to AO.
FCOI Declarations: None.
