Applicability of the Scandinavian Odor Identification Test: a Finnish-Swedish comparison

The possibility of using the Scandinavian Odor Identification Test (SOIT), developed for clinical purposes for use with Swedish subjects, for assessment of another northern European population was studied by comparing test performance between 127 Finnish and 127 Swedish participants, who were matched for age (19-85 years) and gender. The results showed very similar performance between countries and demonstrated, as expected, age- and gender-related differences in performance. Test-retest reliability was as good in Finnish as in Swedish subgroups of participants and no significant difference between countries in terms of diagnostic distribution (normosmia, hyposmia and anosmia) was found when using existing cut-off scores. The findings suggest that the SOIT, with its diagnostic cut-off scores, is reliable and valid for use with Finnish populations.