Australian norms for a quantitative olfactory function test

Abstract

Quantitative olfactory assessment is often neglected in clinical practice, although olfactory loss can assist diagnosis and leads to significant morbidity. The aim of this study was to develop normative data for the Australian population for the `Sniffin' Sticks', an internationally established olfactory function test. As in other populations, Australian females performed better than males and both lost olfactory function with age. From the normative data, criterion test scores for males and females were established for clinical classifications (`normosmic', `hyposmic', and `anosmic'). These clinical classifications were assessed in Parkinson's patients: 81.1% were anosmic or severely hyposmic and only 7.7% were normosmic. A new term (`prebyosmia') is introduced to describe age-related loss of olfactory capacity of unknown aetiology. With these norms, the Sniffin' Sticks can be used in the Australian population to compare an individual's olfactory function against the population of others of similar age and sex and to identify olfactory dysfunction.