Quantitative instruments used to assess children's sense of smell: a review article

Abstract

Purpose: To systematically gather from the literature available the quantitative instruments used to assess the sense of smell in studies carried out with children.

Research strategy: The present study included a survey in the Pubmed and Bireme platforms and in the databases of MedLine, Lilacs, regional SciELO and Web of Science, followed by selection and critical analysis of the articles found and chosen.

Selection criteria: We selected original articles related to the topic in question, conducted only with children in Portuguese, English, and Spanish. We excluded studies addressing other phases of human development, exclusively or concurrently with the pediatric population; studies on animals; literature review articles; dissertations; book chapters; case study articles; and editorials.

Data analysis: A book report protocol was created for this study, including the following information: author, department, year, location, population/sample, age, purpose of the study, methods, and main results.

Results: We found 8,451 articles by typing keywords and identifiers. Out of this total, 5,928 were excluded by the title, 2,366 by the abstract, and 123 after we read the full text. Thus, 34 articles were selected, of which 28 were repeated in the databases, totalizing 6 articles analyzed in this review.

Conclusion: We observed a lack of standardization of the quantitative instruments used to assess children's sense of smell, with great variability in the methodology of the tests, which reduces the effectiveness and reliability of the results.