Does it Matter How We Pose the Question %26quot;How is Your Sense of Smell?%26quot;

作者：Wehling Eike^*; Lundervold Astri J; Nordin Steven

来源：Chemosensory Perception, 2014, 7(3-4): 103-107.

DOI：10.1007/s12078-014-9171-6

• Olfaction
• Aging
• Self-report
• Smell
• Sensitivity
• Specificity

There is a rather large, and unfortunate, discrepancy in the outcome between self-reported and standardized assessment of olfactory function. Questions for self-evaluation are commonly used that provide no information of with what to compare (comparison target) one%26apos;s olfactory function. We therefore investigated whether responses differed between an unspecific question and two questions providing comparison targets. Ninety-six healthy community-dwelling individuals (62.5 % women) aged 49-80 years evaluated their odor identification ability, followed by standardized assessment of odor identification ability. Results revealed that response patterns varied significantly depending on comparison target. While 81 % reported normal function when no further comparison target was presented, 69 % reported normal function when referring to age-related olfactory changes in identification ability. In turn, sensitivity of the accuracy of self-reported reduced odor identification ability (with standardized assessment as reference) increased from 11 to 37 %, whereas specificity decreased from 86 to 71 % when providing a comparison target. Accuracy of self-reported olfactory function can be increased by including a comparison target. However, standardized assessment is to be preferred over self-reported assessment, irrespective of how the question is formulated.

• 出版日期2014-12