Introduction

Olfactory 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.

Methods

A 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.

Results

A 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.

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 now reliably be used for clinical assessment of British patients, modifying only the descriptors.

中文翻译：

---

Sniffin' Sticks 心理物理测试在英国环境中的文化适应性和有效性

介绍

嗅觉测试必须在文化上进行调整以与目标人群相关。本研究旨在验证适用于英国环境的 Sniffin' Sticks 测试。

方法

在三级嗅觉功能障碍诊所进行了一项队列研究。第一阶段——健康志愿者接受了最初的德国身份识别测试，然后是英国改编的版本。第 2 阶段——嗅觉障碍患者接受了包括新描述词在内的扩展嗅觉测试 (TDI)。结果测量包括识别测试（第 1 阶段）的差异、重新测试的可靠性和治疗前后分数的差异。

结果

共招募了 31 名健康志愿者和 87 名患者（分别为 6 名和 31 名男性）。阶段 1 - 平均识别分数在描述符适应后略有改善（13.77 和 14.57，p  = 0.0029）。第 2 阶段 - 41 名未经治疗的参与者在两个时间间隔的平均识别分数为 7.31（95% CI：- 1.15 至 1.15，p  > 0.999）。接受治疗的参与者的平均变化为 1.88（0.70 至 3.06，p  = 0.0224）。治疗组和未治疗组之间的 TDI 评分差异为 6.63（2.48 至 10.79，p = 0.0023）。未治疗患者的组内相关系数在 TDI 评分（ICC = 0.82，95% CI 0.57 至 0.93）和识别评分（ICC = 0.80，0.52 至 0.93）方面均较高；CI 表明可靠性中等至极好。

结论

本研究证实了 Sniffin' Sticks 测试的识别组件的描述符改编的有效性，以区分健康和疾病。

影响

Sniffin' Sticks 测试现在可以可靠地用于英国患者的临床评估，仅修改描述符。