Odour identification and discrimination in Dutch adults over 45 years.
OBJECTIVE
The aim of the study was to establish normative values for the two culture dependent components (odour identification and odour discrimination) of the "Sniffin' Sticks" test battery in the Dutch population over 45 years of age, and to assess the influence of age and sex on olfactory function in this population.


METHODS
This study was performed in 150 healthy Dutch subjects (87 male and 63 female, mean age 59.2 years, range 45-78 years). Olfactory performance was assessed using the odour identification and discrimination parts of the "Sniffin' Sticks" test battery.


RESULTS
In women, odour discrimination scores declined significantly with age, whereas there was no effect of age on odour discrimination performance in men. For odour identification, there were no effects of age or sex in this population. A moderate correlation was found between identification and discrimination test scores.


CONCLUSIONS
Provisional population-specific normative data for olfactory testing using the identification and discrimination parts of the "Sniffin' Sticks" olfactory test battery have been established for the Dutch population over 45 years of age. The current data are applicable to the clinical evaluation of patients with olfactory disorders.
Department of Neurology, VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam, the Netherlands. s.boesveldt@vumc.nl
S
S
Boesveldt
D
D
Verbaan
D L
DL
Knol
J J
JJ
van Hilten
H W
HW
Berendse
D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D004056:Differential Threshold / Q000502:physiology; D004192:Discrimination, Psychological; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009426:Netherlands; D021641:Recognition, Psychology; D012016:Reference Values; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012737:Sex Factors; D012903:Smell / Q000502:physiology*; D044465:White People / Q000523:psychology*