Digitizing Olfactory Assessment in Portugal: Pilot Clinical Application of a Digital Odor Identification Test

Introduction: Current methods for olfactory assessment are often time-consuming and necessitate the involvement of an examiner for both administration and documentation of responses. This study aimed to evaluate the clinical utility of a novel digital olfactory device, the MultiScent-20 odor identification test (MultiScent-IT), in distinguishing individuals with olfactory dysfunction from those with normal olfactory function.

The work was conducted and reported in accordance with the Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology (STROBE) statement for case-control studies. The test was administered to individuals with olfactory dysfunction (cases) and normosmic volunteers (controls), who were classified using the Sniffin' Sticks threshold test.

A statistically significant difference was observed in the total test scores between cases (9.6 ± 4.5) and controls (13.2 ± 1.9), p = 0.01. The test performance, defined as (total score/total time) × 100, was significantly lower in cases (1.9 ± 1.4) compared to controls (3.2 ± 1), p = 0.016. A receiver operating characteristic curve analysis demonstrated an area under the curve of 0.749, indicating a fair to good ability of the MultiScent-IT to discriminate between the groups. A MultiScent-IT score below 10 demonstrated perfect sensitivity (100%) in detecting olfactory dysfunction. Significant correlations were identified between the MultiScent-IT score and the Sniffin' Sticks threshold score (p = 0.009, r = 0.524), as well as the Portuguese version of the Olfactory Disorders Questionnaire (PT-ODQ) score (p = 0.013, r = -0.423).

MultiScent-IT is a promising tool for differentiating between individuals with and without olfactory dysfunction in clinical settings.