Mass General Brigham researchers develop and study an at-home smell test for early detection of Alzheimer’s disease

When it comes to early detection of cognitive impairment, a new study suggests that the nose knows. Researchers from Mass General Brigham developed olfactory tests—in which participants sniff odor labels that have been placed on a card—to assess people’s ability to discriminate, identify and remember odors. They found that participants could successfully take the test at home and that older adults with cognitive impairment scored lower on the test than cognitively normal adults. Results are published in Scientific Reports.  

“Early detection of cognitive impairment could help us identify people who are at risk of Alzheimer’s disease and intervene years before memory symptoms begin,” said senior author Mark Albers, MD, PhD, of the Laboratory of Olfactory Neurotranslation, the McCance Center for Brain Health, and Department of Neurology at Massachusetts General Hospital, a founding member of the Mass General Brigham healthcare system. “Our goal has been to develop and validate a cost-effective, non-invasive test that can be performed at home, helping to set the stage for advancing research and treatment for Alzheimer’s.” 

Albers and colleagues are interested in whether olfactory dysfunction—the sometimes-subtle loss of sense of smell—can serve as an early warning sign for neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson's disease, chronic traumatic encephalopathy, and traumatic brain injury. Albers helped found a company that makes the Aromha Brain Health Test, which is the test used by the research team to conduct the current study. 

To evaluate the olfactory test, the team recruited English and Spanish speaking participants with subjective cognitive complaints (those with self-reported concerns about memory) and participants with mild cognitive impairment. They compared these participants’ test results with those who had no sense of smell and with cognitively normal individuals.  

The research team found that odor identification, memory, and discrimination declined with age. They also found that older adults with mild cognitive impairment had lower scores for odor discrimination and identification compared with older adults who were cognitively normal. Overall, the researchers found that test results were similar across English and Spanish speakers, and participants performed the test equally successfully regardless of whether they were observed by a research assistant. 

The authors note that future studies could incorporate neuropsychological testing and could follow patients over time to see if the tool can predict cognitive decline. 

“Our results suggest that olfactory testing could be used in clinical research settings in different languages and among older adults to predict neurodegenerative disease and development of clinical symptoms,” said Albers. 

Authorship: In addition to Albers, Mass General Brigham authors include Benoît Jobin, Colin Magdamo, Daniela Delphus, Andreas Runde, Alysa Alejandro Soto, Beyzanur Ergun, Sasha Mukhija, Alefiya Dhilla Albers. Additional authors include Sean Reineke. 

Disclosures: M. Albers and A. Albers has a financial interest in Aromha, Inc., a company developing scent-based screens for neurodegenerative disorders and COVID-19. Reineke and M. Albers are co-founders and own shares in Aromha, Inc. Reineke is the CEO of Aromha, Inc. Madamo and A. Albers are consultants for Aromha, Inc. M. Albers’ and A. Albers’ interests was reviewed and is managed by MGH and Mass General Brigham in accordance with their conflict of interest policies. M. Albers is a consultant for Sudo Bioscience Limited, Transposon Therapeutics, and has received in kind donations from IFF and from Eli Lilly. He has received speaking fees from Biohaven and Incyte.  
 
Funding: The study was funded by the National Institutes of Health (R41AG062130, NIHR42AG 062130, U01DC019579). 

Paper cited: Jobin B et al. “The AROMHA brain health test is a remote olfactory assessment to screen for cognitive impairment” Scientific Reports DOI: 10.1038/s41598-025-92826-8 

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Mass General Brigham is an integrated academic health care system, uniting great minds to solve the hardest problems in medicine for our communities and the world. Mass General Brigham connects a full continuum of care across a system of academic medical centers, community and specialty hospitals, a health insurance plan, physician networks, community health centers, home care, and long-term care services. Mass General Brigham is a nonprofit organization committed to patient care, research, teaching, and service to the community. In addition, Mass General Brigham is one of the nation’s leading biomedical research organizations with several Harvard Medical School teaching hospitals. For more information, please visit massgeneralbrigham.org.