In participants of the Rhineland Study, we could confirm that olfactory dysfunction was indeed significantly associated with lymphocyte, neutrophil and basophil cell counts, lymphocyte percentage of white blood cells, total white blood cell counts, coffee intake, skeletal muscle mass, hand grip strength, levels of cystatin-C, heart rate, hypertension, and at borderline significance with heart failure (p < 0.07) (Fig. 7A and Supplementary Table 13). Here, CST3 is linked to Hypertension.