Odor perception between heterosexual partners: Its association with depression,

SILVIA SOOKOIAN; ADRIANA BURGUEÑO; TOMASFERNÁNDEZ GIANOTTIB; GUILLERMO MARILLET; CARLOS JOSE PIROLA

BIOLOGICAL PSYCHOLOGY

ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV

Año: 2011 vol. 86 p. 153 - 157

0301-0511

Weperformed a study on a sample of 856 individuals to answer whether the pleasantness/unpleasantnessof the odor perception of their partners (rating of partner odor) is associated with depression and anxiety.To evaluate the influence of common genetic variation of the odorant receptor OR7D4 on the rating ofpartner odor, the variant rs8109935 was genotyped in the whole sample. The rating of partner odor wassignificantly associated with scores of anxiety and depression. Depression (OR: 0.75, 95%CI: 0.56–0.98,p = 0.039) and anxiety (Robust Coef±SE:−13±0.6, p = 0.044) were inversely associated with pleasantnessrating of partner odor. Ordered probit regression analysis shows that the rating of partner odor was significantlyassociated with the rs8109935 genotypes (Coef±robust SE: 0.19±0.09, p = 0.028). These findingssuggest that odor perception between heterosexual partners may have an impact on the development ofdepression and anxiety, and that it might be influenced by genetic variation in OR7D4.