Abstract
The clinical diagnostics of olfactory dysfunction in children turns out to be challenging due to low attention span, insufficient linguistic development and lack of odor experiences. Several smell tests have been developed for adults. Most of these examinations take a relatively long time and require a high level of concentration. Therefore, the aim of the current study was to evaluate an odor discrimination and olfactory threshold test using the frequently used “Sniffin’ Sticks” in children and adolescents in a simplified two-alternative-forced-choice version (2AFC) and compare it to the original three-alternative-forced-choice test (3AFC). One-hundred-twenty-one healthy participants aged between 5 and 17 years took part in this study. Within each of the two sessions participants underwent olfactory testing using the modified 2AFC as well as the standard 3AFC method. A better test-retest reliability was achieved using the original 3AFC method compared to the modified 2AFC. This was true for the odor discrimination as well as the olfactory threshold. Age had a significant influence on both tests, which should be considered when testing young children. We discuss these findings with relation to the existing norms and recommend using the 3AFC version due to a better test-retest reliability to measure olfactory function in children.
Highlights
The clinical diagnostics of olfactory dysfunction turns out to be challenging due to low attention span, linguistic development and lack of odor experience[6,7,8]
Several olfactory testing in children have been developed. These attempts mainly focused on odor identification abilities, e.g., “Sniffin’ Kids” test with odors, which are more familiar to children[15]; a “Scratch and Sniff ” card system for children[8]; a game-like identification test called “The Smell Wheel”[16] or an olfactory assessment using the NIH Toolbox[17]
To exclude the bias resulting from variance in verbal development in children, we refrained from using the odor identification subtest and only examined the olfactory threshold and odor discrimination subtests
Summary
The clinical diagnostics of olfactory dysfunction turns out to be challenging due to low attention span, linguistic development and lack of odor experience[6,7,8]. Former reports show, that among children the odor identification score might depend on their verbal skills[6, 8, 14] To overcome these challenges, several olfactory testing in children have been developed. Several olfactory testing in children have been developed These attempts mainly focused on odor identification abilities, e.g., “Sniffin’ Kids” test with odors, which are more familiar to children[15]; a “Scratch and Sniff ” card system for children[8]; a game-like identification test called “The Smell Wheel”[16] or an olfactory assessment using the NIH Toolbox[17]. To exclude the bias resulting from variance in verbal development in children, we refrained from using the odor identification subtest (present in the original version of the “Sniffin’ Sticks”) and only examined the olfactory threshold and odor discrimination subtests
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
