Patients with Parkinson´s Disease (PD) have a distinctive body odor, which was first described by a patient’s wife as musky and strong. Later analysis of sebum of patients with PD revealed four volatile organic compounds (VOC) (perillic aldehyde, hippuric acid, eicosane, octadecanal), that differed from healthy subjects, and the patient’s wife confirmed that three of them smelled like patients with PD. However, it is unclear whether other people can also perceive this PD body odor and whether it can be artificially recreated. Hence, we aimed to systematically assess whether young women can perceive the PD body odor and whether they can discriminate between the PD body odor and the “artificial PD odor” composed of the four VOCs mentioned above.
Patients with Parkinson´s Disease (PD) have a distinctive body odor, which was first described by a patient’s wife as musky and strong. Later analysis of sebum of patients with PD revealed four volatile organic compounds (VOC) (perillic aldehyde, hippuric acid, eicosane, octadecanal), that differed from healthy subjects, and the patient’s wife confirmed that three of them smelled like patients with PD. However, it is unclear whether other people can also perceive this PD body odor and whether it can be artificially recreated. Hence, we aimed to systematically assess whether young women can perceive the PD body odor and whether they can discriminate between the PD body odor and the “artificial PD odor” composed of the four VOCs mentioned above.