Differences in Odor Identification in Early-Onset and Late-Onset Depression

(1) Background: Odor identification (OI) dysfunction is a potential predictor of developing dementia in late life depression (LLD). However, it is not clear whether patients with early onset depression (EOD) and late onset depression (LOD) may exhibit different OI dysfunctions. The aim of this study was to compare OI between EOD patients and LOD patients and its relationship with cognitive function. (2) Methods: A total of 179 patients with LLD and 189 normal controls were recruited. Participants underwent clinical assessment, olfactory testing, and comprehensive neuropsychological assessment. The OI scores of EOD patients and LOD patients were compared, and correlation analyses and mediation analyses were used to explore the relationship between OI and cognition. (3) Result: LOD patients exhibited lower OI scores than EOD patients and normal controls (NCs). Additionally, the LOD patients exhibited a higher percentage of OI dysfunction than the EOD patients. Moreover, OI scores were associated with global cognition, memory, language, and visuospatial ability in the EOD group (p < 0.05) but were not associated with any cognitive score in the LOD patients (p > 0.05). Finally, the scores of the Auditory Verbal Learning Test Immediate recall and Boston Naming Test exhibited a partially mediating effect on the difference in OI scores between the EOD and LOD patients. (4) Conclusions: LOD patients exhibited worse OI than EOD patients, and their difference in OI was mediated by their memory and language function.