Validation of the Sniffin Sticks in a UK population
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Validation of the Sniffin Sticks in a UK population
IRAS ID
74953
Contact name
Carl Philpott
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of East Anglia
Research summary
The sense of smell is important and we sometimes cannot appreciate it importance until it is lost , for example during a cold. The sense of smell is important for detection of danger such as a gas leak, spoiled food or for professions such as firemen, chefs etc. It is also an important part of taste without wich the pleasure of eating is gone. The loss of the sense of smell can be associated with neurological conditions such as Alzheimer disease or brain tumours. The Sniffin Stick test is used for the clinical assessment of the sense of smell.The test is based on a number of felt-tip pen like odor dispensing devices which are presented to the patient for detection and identification of an odorant substance. It comprises three tests for olfactory function, namely odor threshold, odor discrimination and odor identification. The odor identification uses 16 common odorants and asks the subject to verbally identify the smell from a selection of four options. Initially developed in Germany, the Sniffin stick test was validated on a large number of local subjects and it is used in many European countries. Odour identification is strongly dependent on familiarity with the odors presented in the Sniffin sticks. Cultural differences might prevent odour identification and as a result limit the applicability of this olfactory test in the UK. No data on the validation of the Sniffin sticks test in the UK is available at present. The aim of this study is to establish that the odours and normal values for the test are valid in a UK population.
REC name
East of England - Cambridge East Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
14/EE/1010
Date of REC Opinion
12 Aug 2014
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion