A brief smell identification test discriminates between deficit and non-deficit schizophrenia

Abstract

Evidence is accumulating that smell identification deficits (SID) and social dysfunction in schizophrenia may share a common pathophysiology. While most schizophrenia studies utilize the lengthy 40-item University of Pennsylvania Smell Identification Test (UPSIT) to assess smell identification ability, a brief 12-item smell identification test (B-SIT) has recently been constructed as a culturally neutral substitute for the UPSIT. By selecting the 12 items of the UPSIT from which the B-SIT was originally derived, we constructed a proxy for the B-SIT and compared the performance of 83 patients with schizophrenia to 69 normal subjects. We examined select properties of the B-SIT proxy in relation to the UPSIT to determine its efficacy for use in psychiatric populations. We considered the sensitivity of the B-SIT proxy and evaluated a cutoff score for identifying deficit syndrome schizophrenia (DS). The UPSIT and B-SIT proxy were significantly related in the patients ( n=83, r=0.85, P=0.01) and in comparison subjects ( n=69, r=0.83, P=0.01), and both measures similarly distinguished DS from non-deficit syndrome (non-DS) patients. The results of this study support the utility of the B-SIT for schizophrenia research and highlight the robustness of the relationship between SID and social dysfunction in schizophrenia.