Author response: Olfaction and risk of dementia in a biracial cohort of older adults

We thank Drs. Fuller-Thompson and Jopling for the thoughtful contribution to the discourse of our article.1 While we were unable to assess the potential role of lead in the observed association between poorer olfaction and incident dementia, we agree that such environmental toxins may be important in considering possible mechanistic pathways linking olfaction and dementia. The mechanisms underlying pollution-associated olfactory dysfunction are an important area of future research, particularly to answer the question of whether exposure to environmental toxins—along with other dementia risk factors such as cardiovascular disease and APOE e4 status—could help identify individuals who would benefit most from early interventions to prevent or delay the onset of dementia.