A New Procedure for the Short Screening of Olfactory Function Using Five Items from the "Sniffin' Sticks" Identification Test Kit

Background: The aim of this study was to create a new protocol based on the "Sniffin' Sticks" test kit, which would be suitablefor short screening of olfactory function.

Methods: One hundred forty-one subjects were included in the investigation. In a first session, 106 subjects were presented five odorants together with a list of 20 descriptors. Additional choices were "no odor" and "undefinable". The established 16-item identification test was then performed to assess olfactory function. In another session, the new procedure was repeated on 21 subjects to check the test-retest reliability. The Brief Smell Identification Test was used together with the five-item test in an additional 35 subjects for additional validation.

Results: The correlation coefficients between the results of the new test and the established procedures were r106 = 0.61 and r35 = 0.77 (p < 0.01). The new test procedure revealed two groups of subjects (score of 0 and scores 4 or 5). These groups had no overlapping results in the established odor identification tests. Repeated measurements of the short test showed a correlation coefficient of r21 = 0.77 (p < 0.01).

Conclusion: The present data indicate the usefulness of the short screening test. Given a maximum of one error, the test is able to confirm the presence of normosmia or mild hyposmia. The kit can be carried in a pocket and the test takes only 3 minutes to perform.