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Olfactory Function Assessment in Italian Subjects with Autism Spectrum Disorder

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Chemosensory Perception

Abstract

Introduction

The olfactory system is associated with several brain areas that might be involved in neurodegenerative processes and neurodevelopmental disorders. For this reason, investigation of the olfactory function plays an important role in the assessment of individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by an impairment in social communication and by a restricted and repetitive pattern of behaviors. The aim of this study was to examine odor detection threshold, discrimination, and identification in participants with ASD compared to typically developing (TD) controls.

Methods

Thirty Italian subjects (15 with ASD, mean age 19 ± 0.5 years, and 15 TD controls, mean age 21.7 ± 0.4 years) were evaluated by means of the Sniffin’ Sticks extended test through three different parameters, odor detection threshold, discrimination, and identification, and their sum the threshold, discrimination, and identification (TDI) score.

Results

Our results indicated that the participants with ASD showed an impairment in odor detection threshold and TDI score compared to TD controls. No differences were found in odor identification and discrimination. Participants with ASD were significantly poorer in correctly identifying the following odors: leather, apple, rose, cinnamon, garlic, cloves, and anis. However, they were significantly better than TD controls in correctly identifying the odor of the following fruits: orange, banana, and lemon.

Conclusion and Implications

Our data provide a comprehensive evaluation of the three olfactory components in an Italian population and confirm an impaired odor detection threshold and TDI score in subjects with ASD compared to TD controls. In conclusion, these results suggest that the Sniffin’ Sticks extended test might be a valid tool in early detection and differential diagnosis of neurodevelopmental disorders.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank all the participants for their contribution and Dr. David Nilson for improving the English text.

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Correspondence to Carla Masala.

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Funding

This work was supported by a grant from the University of Cagliari (Progetti di Ricerca di Interesse Dipartimentale, PRID 2016).

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

Ethical Approval

All procedures performed in this study were approved by the local ethical committee and were carried out in accordance with the Helsinki Declaration.

Informed Consent

Participants received an explanatory statement and gave their written informed consent to participate in the study.

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Fadda, R., Piras, F., Doneddu, G. et al. Olfactory Function Assessment in Italian Subjects with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Chem. Percept. 11, 51–58 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12078-017-9234-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12078-017-9234-6

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