Patient perception and awareness of psychophysical olfactory tests: A cross-sectional observational survey

To evaluate the patient perception and awareness of psychophysical olfactory testing (PT).

A survey was distributed to 119 consecutive patients consulting in the Dour Medical Center for olfactory dysfunction (OD) lasting for more than 6months. The survey assessed the patient opinion regarding the usefulness, advantages, and impact of PT on the olfactory check-up and follow-up. Smell sense was evaluated with threshold, discrimination and identification (TDI) test, and the Olfactory Disorder Questionnaire (ODQ).

Survey was completed by 118 patients (99%). There were 72 females (61%). The mean age was 55.1±15.1years. There were 53 (45.0%) patients with complete smell loss, 43 (36.4%) with partial smell loss, and 22 (18.6%) with disturbed smell (parosmia). The mean TDI was 18.0±10.9. The mean ODQ was 35.8±13.9. PT are considered a supportive test for the evaluation of the OD by 66% of patients. The primary PT limitations were considered as the presence of uncommon (65.3%) or unknown odors (42.7%), and the lack of consistency with their OD (55.9%), which was associated with the wish to improve PT with daily life odors (64.4%; r_s=-0.386; P=0.001). In 53.4% of cases, patients realized that they were able to smell some odors thanks to PT. Patients with parosmia reported less positive opinion of PT compared to those with anosmia/hyposmia.

Two thirds of patients with OD have good opinion of PT. Patients with anosmia or hyposmia reported better opinion than those with parosmia, strengthening the importance to consider specific PT dedicated to parosmia for this population. The inclusion of patients' daily life odors in PT is a potential point of improvement for future studies.