Cultural adaptation of an olfactory identification test: the Greek version of Sniffin' Sticks

Sniffin sticks battery is a well-validated olfactory test in German speaking population. However adaptation of this test in the cultural background of a country is mandatory before use.

In total 258 subjects were tested in two stages. The first stage included assessment of 60 healthy subjects with the exact translation of Sniffin' Sticks list and recognition of problematic items. In the second stage a modified list after linguistic changes was tested in a representative for the Greek population study group of 198 healthy subjects. Their results were correlated with a sample of 198 Germans of similar age and sex distribution from the German normative data of Sniffin' Sticks.

The use of the initial list showed decreased odour identification (< 70%) of 6 items (anis, turpentine, liquorice, apple, lemon, cinnamon). After the appropriate changes the results of the modified list presented significantly increased identification of all problematic items. Identification ability of Greek population showed significant correlation with the German study group having similar behaviour regarding age and gender differences.

This study provides cultural adaptation of the Sniffin' Sticks olfactory identification test and normative data for the Greek population.