PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Salina Husain
AU  - Irfan Affandi Hamid
AU  - Farah Dayana Zahedi
AU  - Aneeza Khairiyah Wan Hamizan
TI  - Normative data of olfactory abilities using cultural adaption Sniffin’ sticks smell test in different age groups
AID  - 10.15537/smj.2021.42.11.20210529
DP  - 2021 Nov 01
TA  - Saudi Medical Journal
PG  - 1209--1216
VI  - 42
IP  - 11
4099  - http://smj.org.sa/content/42/11/1209.short
4100  - http://smj.org.sa/content/42/11/1209.full
SO  - Saudi Med J2021 Nov 01; 42
AB  - Objectives: To assess olfactory abilities using a culturally adapted Sniffin’ Sticks smell test in different age groups.Methods: This was a cross-sectional study, conducted at Otorhinolaryngology outpatient clinic of Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Medical Centre, Secondary Science School, and Children Learning Centre in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, from August 2019 until December 2021.Results: In 450 healthy participants, the cut-off points of the threshold discrimination identification (TDI) scores at the 10th percentile for olfactory abilities were 19 in children, 30.1 in adolescents, 32.1 in young adults, 31.1 in middle-aged adults, and 28.6 in older adults. The children had significantly lower olfactory abilities, with the Bonferroni post-hoc tests of p<0.001. The young adults had higher olfactory abilities than older adults (p<0.05). The results showed that the identification score was highest in middle-aged adults (p<0.001). The discrimination score was the highest in young adults (p<0.001). The best odor threshold performance was observed in adolescents (p<0.001). The TDI score showed a significant difference in olfactory abilities between men and women (p=0.001).Conclusion: Using a culturally adapted smell test, our population was able to identify, discriminate, and perceive odorants better than the European population. This data will help clinicians and researchers with a tool to reliably establish the correct results of olfactory function in our population. Women had better olfactory abilities than men.