Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2023 Aug:113:105494.
doi: 10.1016/j.parkreldis.2023.105494. Epub 2023 Jul 1.

Development and validation of the Vietnamese smell identification test

Tai Ngoc Tran  1 , Thuong Huyen Thi Dang  2 , Truc Thanh Thai  3 , Hien Thi Le  4 , Thuy Thu Thi Nguyen  5 , Hai Thi Nguyen  6 , Anh Ngoc Thi Nguyen  7 , Uyen Ngoc Le Ha  8 , Khang Chung Ngoc Vo  9 , Thanh Vinh Nguyen  10 , Thanh van Nguyen  11 , Quang Xuan Ly  12 , Daniel Truong  13
Affiliations
Free article

Development and validation of the Vietnamese smell identification test

Tai Ngoc Tran et al. Parkinsonism Relat Disord. 2023 Aug.
Free article

Abstract

Background: Correct olfactory identification requires familiarity with the odor stimuli and is culturally dependent. Existing smell identification tests (SIT) are not culturally specific and may not be reliable in detecting hyposmia in all populations. This study aimed to develop a smell identification test suitable for Vietnamese patients (VSIT).

Methods: The study included 4 phases: 1) survey-based evaluation of the familiarity of 68 odors to identify 18 odors for subsequent testing (N = 1050); 2) smell identification test of 18 odors in healthy patients (N = 50) to determine which 12 should be included in the VSIT; 3) comparison of VSIT scores on 12 odors in patients with hyposmia (N = 60; Brief smell identification test (BSIT) score <8 and those with normosmia (N = 120; BSIT score ≥8) to establish the validity of the newly developed test; and 4) retest of the VSIT in 60 normosmic patients from phase 3 (N = 60) to determine test-retest reliability.

Results: As expected, the mean (SD) VSIT score was significantly higher in the healthy participants than in the hyposmic patients [10.28 (1.34) vs 4.57 (1.76); P < 0.001]. Using a cut-off score at 8, the sensitivity and specificity of the instrument in detecting hyposmia were 93.3% and 97.5% respectively. The test-retest reliability using the intra-class correlation coefficient was at 0.72 (P < 0.001).

Conclusion: The Vietnamese Smell Identification Test (VSIT) demonstrated favorable validity and reliability and will allow for assessment of olfactory function in Vietnamese patients.

Keywords: Hyposmia; Reliability; Smell identification test; Validity.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of competing interest Tai Ngoc Tran: has received consultation and/or honoraria/lecture fees from Boehringer-Ingelheim, Ipsen Pharmaceuticals, and Medtronic, and research funding from University Medical Center, University of Medicine and Pharmacy at Ho Chi Minh City. Daniel Truong: has received consultation and/or honoraria/lecture fees from Neurocrine Inc., Teva Pharmaceutical Inc., He received research funding from AbbVie, Acadia Cynapsus, Daiichi Sankyo Pharma, Intec, Ipsen, Kyowa, Merz, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, Neurocrine, Neuroderm Ltd, Sunovion, Acorda Sage, Takeda, Cerevel Therapeutics, UCB Pharma, Pharmather, Inc., Teva, Aeon Biopharma, Bukwang Pharmaceuticals, Lundbeck Pharmaceuticals.

Publication types