Brief report: anosmia and remote outcome in closed head injury

The value of posttraumatic anosmia as a predictor of late social outcomes was examined in a sample of closed head injury (CHI) patients. Unemployment rates were equally high in both the anosmic and nonanosmic closed head injury patients. The groups also did not differ in psychiatric or neuropsychological status. Anosmic patients had longer initial hospital stays and deeper initial comatose/confusional states. Anosmia does not appear to add incrementally to disability status and it does not automatically imply the presence of basal-frontal damage.