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Ghostly odors are more likely to haunt women
Last reviewed: 02.07.2025
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According to statistics, women are more likely to experience the sensation of smells that do not actually exist: men are much less likely to be bothered by this problem.
Some people notice that they sometimes smell a strange odor, such as urine or burnt porridge, although they are surprised to find that there is no source of such an odor in sight. In fact, this happens almost everywhere. Medical specialists periodically encounter this problem in patients, calling it an idiopathic sensation of phantom odors. But in medicine, there are no exact statistics on this matter. Swedish researchers started talking about this problem. They managed to establish that the population of Sweden, belonging to the age range from sixty to ninety years, in almost 5% of cases sense phantom odors.
American experts picked up the initiative and conducted a similar calculation in their country. It was discovered that out of more than seven thousand participants in the experiment, 6.5% of people periodically smelled non-existent aromas, and most of them were female (approximately 2/3).
Olfactory discrepancies are called "phantosmia" in medicine, and in some patients such false sensations are indeed signs of pathologies. In this case, we are talking specifically about unpleasant odors - sulfur, decomposition, rotten eggs, bitterness. The condition can be aggravated by the corresponding reaction: increased salivation, aversion to food appears, cognitive impairments occur.
It is unknown how to explain the body's incorrect olfactory response. Scientists assume that the sensitive receptors in the nasal cavity that perceive odor begin to function excessively actively for some reason. Researchers note that false aromas bother mainly those people who have ever received craniocerebral injuries or had other serious health problems - for example, infectious diseases, benign or malignant tumor processes, hemorrhages. Some experts are inclined to think that in this matter the culprit should be sought in the hormonal sphere.
It rarely happens that people turn to a doctor with such a problem. However, in many situations, the appearance of false odors requires additional diagnostics with subsequent treatment. There are known cases when frequent non-existent aromas indicated the presence of mental disorders and even tumor brain diseases in the patient.
Most likely, scientists still have more than one study to do on this topic. Experts predict that perhaps in the near future doctors will even be able to make a diagnosis based on the nature of the smells that a patient senses.
Information is published on the page https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamaotolaryngology/article-abstract/2696525
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