Memory loss and forgetfulness are common warning signs for dementia. But a dulling of the senses also appears to be associated with dementia.失忆和健忘是痴呆症的常见警告信号。但感觉迟钝似乎也与痴呆有关。“Smell is definitely the strongest one we found, but it does seem like it’s not just smell.”“气味绝对是我们发现的最强的因素，但似乎不仅仅是气味。Willa Brenowitz, an epidemiologist at the University of California, San Francisco. Her team studied cognitive decline in 1.800 adults from the Health, Aging and Body Composition Study—which tracked the health and mental function of older adults over a 17-year period.加州大学旧金山分校的流行病学家Willa Brenowitz说道。她的团队在健康、衰老和身体构成研究中研究了1800名成年人的认知能力下降。该研究对老年人的健康和心理功能进行了长达17年的跟踪。During the study, the subjects completed sensory tests—including hearing, smell, touch and vision. Brenowitz’s team then compared the adults’ overall sensory abilities to their mental function. The results?在研究过程中，受试者完成了感官测试——包括听觉、嗅觉、触觉和视觉。然后，Brenowitz的团队比较了成年人的整体感官能力和他们的精神功能。结果呢?“Those with better function had a lower risk of dementia. And with worse sensory function, they had higher risk of dementia.”“那些功能较好的人患痴呆症的风险较低。感觉功能更差的人患痴呆症的风险更高。”A decline in smell, in particular, had the strongest link to dementia. The results are in the Journal of the Alzheimer’s Association: Alzheimer’s & Dementia.尤其是嗅觉的下降与痴呆的联系最为紧密。研究结果发表在《阿尔茨海默氏症协会杂志:阿尔茨海默氏症与痴呆症》上。The scientists were just studying correlations here. But Brenowitz says if they can figure out how well multisensory decline predicts dementia risk, it might give doctors another tool to screen for the disease.科学家们只是研究其中相关性。但是，Brenowitz说，如果他们能够弄清楚多感官功能下降对痴呆症风险的关系，这可能会给医生提供另一种筛查该疾病的工具。