Abstract
IntroductionOlfactory testing must be culturally adapted to be relevant to the target population. This study aimed to validate the Sniffin’ Sticks test for the UK setting.MethodsA cohort study was conducted at a tertiary olfactory dysfunction clinic. Phase 1—healthy volunteers underwent the original German identification test followed by a UK adapted version. Phase 2—patients with olfactory dysfunction underwent the extended smell test (TDI) including the new descriptors. Outcome measures included differences in identification test (phase 1), retest reliability and differences in scores before and after treatment.ResultsA total of 31 healthy volunteers and 87 patients were recruited (6 and 31 males, respectively). Phase 1—mean identification scores showed a small improvement after descriptor adaptations (13.77 and 14.57, p = 0.0029). Phase 2—41 untreated participants had a mean identification score of 7.31 at both intervals (95% CI: − 1.15 to 1.15, p > 0.999). The mean change in treated participants was 1.88 (0.70 to 3.06, p = 0.0224). TDI score difference between treated and untreated groups was 6.63 (2.48 to 10.79, p = 0.0023). The intraclass correlation coefficient for untreated patients was high for both TDI score (ICC = 0.82, 95% CI 0.57 to 0.93) and identification score (ICC = 0.80, 0.52 to 0.93); CIs suggest the reliability is moderate to excellent.ConclusionsThis study confirms the validity of the descriptor adaptations of the identification component of the Sniffin’ Sticks test to distinguish between health and disease.ImplicationsThe Sniffin’ Sticks test can now reliably be used for clinical assessment of British patients, modifying only the descriptors.
Highlights
Olfactory testing must be culturally adapted to be relevant to the target population
For all phase 2 participants, data was recorded on their TDI scores for the extended Sniffin’ Sticks along with their demographics, their diagnosis, and whether they had received any treatment between visits
Eighty-seven patients reporting olfactory dysfunction were recruited during phase 2; the target of 100 was not met due to the allocated duration of the study ending
Summary
Olfactory testing must be culturally adapted to be relevant to the target population. Phase 2—patients with olfactory dysfunction underwent the extended smell test (TDI) including the new descriptors. Phase 1—mean identification scores showed a small improvement after descriptor adaptations (13.77 and 14.57, p = 0.0029). Phase 2—41 untreated participants had a mean identification score of 7.31 at both intervals (95% CI: − 1.15 to 1.15, p > 0.999). Conclusions This study confirms the validity of the descriptor adaptations of the identification component of the Sniffin’ Sticks test to distinguish between health and disease. Implications The Sniffin’ Sticks test can reliably be used for clinical assessment of British patients, modifying only the descriptors. The Sniffin’ Sticks test is commonly used for this purpose and the test kit comprises three parts: odour threshold, odour discrimination and odour identification giving a total (TDI) score out of 48. The kit is used by many clinicians around the world and has been validated for various countries and populations
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