Normative Data for the 12-Item Sniffin' Sticks Odor Identification Test in Older Adults

Overview

Journal Arch Clin Neuropsychol

Publisher Oxford University Press

Specialties Neurology
Psychology

Date 2023 Oct 26

PMID 37883325

Authors

Vidyulata Kamath

Honglei Chen

Srishti Shrestha

Dawn Mechanic-Hamilton

Jennifer A Deal

Thomas H Mosley

Andrea L C Schneider

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Objective: Quantitative olfactory assessment has demonstrated clinical utility for the evaluation of a range of neurologic, psychiatric, and sinonasal conditions. Here, we provide age, sex, race, and education-specific normative data for the 12-item Sniffin Sticks Odor Identification Test (SSOIT-12) in older Black and White U.S. adults without preclinical or clinical dementia or sinonasal disease.

Method: A sample of 2,224 Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities study participants aged 66-89 years were included. A normative regression equation was developed using a linear model for the association of age, sex, race, and education with odor identification score. Regression-based normative mean scores and percentiles were generated by age, sex, race, and education groups.

Results: Participants (mean age = 74 years, 59% women, 20% Black, 48% > high school education) had a mean SSOIT-12 score of 9.8. Age, sex, race, and education were all associated with odor identification performance (all ps < .05). A linear regression model for the predicted SSOIT-12 score was developed for use with an individual's actual SSOIT-12 score in order to calculate the Z-score and corresponding percentile for a specific age, sex, race, and education group. Data are also reported in tabular format.

Conclusions: Our study provides SSOIT-12 normative data obtained from a large population of White and Black older adults without preclinical or clinical dementia or sinonasal disease living in the USA. These findings can aid clinicians in assessing the degree of olfactory loss, establishing concordance with a person's perception of olfactory difficulties and quantitatively monitoring changes in olfactory performance over time.

Citing Articles

Olfactory Dysfunction and Limbic Hypoactivation in Temporal Lobe Epilepsy.

Schmidt M, Bauer T, Kehl M, Minarik A, Walger L, Schultz J Hum Brain Mapp. 2024; 45(16):e70061.

PMID: 39487626 PMC: 11530705. DOI: 10.1002/hbm.70061.

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