OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study is to determine if the University of Pennsylvania's Smell Identification Test (UPSIT) is an accurate diagnostic tool for olfactory dysfunction in Parkinson's disease (PD). METHOD: We included 138 non-demented PD subjects and 175 control subjects matched by gender. Smell identification was tested using UPSIT. RESULTS: The mean number of UPSIT items correctly identified by controls was 27.52 ± 5.88; the mean score for PD subjects was 19.66 ± 6.08 (p=<0.001). UPSIT sensitivity was 79.7% with a specificity of 68.5% using a cut-off score of ≤ 25. The overall accuracy for the diagnosis of PD was of 75.3%. CONCLUSION: UPSIT accuracy and specificity were lower than what has been previously reported. Our data demonstrates that 17.5% of items of the UPSIT were not well identified by healthy controls. Further research of the identification of a truly cross-cultural test is warranted.
OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study is to determine if the University of Pennsylvania's Smell Identification Test (UPSIT) is an accurate diagnostic tool for olfactory dysfunction in Parkinson's disease (PD). METHOD: We included 138 non-demented PD subjects and 175 control subjects matched by gender. Smell identification was tested using UPSIT. RESULTS: The mean number of UPSIT items correctly identified by controls was 27.52 ± 5.88; the mean score for PD subjects was 19.66 ± 6.08 (p=<0.001). UPSIT sensitivity was 79.7% with a specificity of 68.5% using a cut-off score of ≤ 25. The overall accuracy for the diagnosis of PD was of 75.3%. CONCLUSION: UPSIT accuracy and specificity were lower than what has been previously reported. Our data demonstrates that 17.5% of items of the UPSIT were not well identified by healthy controls. Further research of the identification of a truly cross-cultural test is warranted.
Authors: Richard C Gerkin; Charles H Adler; Joseph G Hentz; Holly A Shill; Erika Driver-Dunckley; Shyamal H Mehta; Marwan N Sabbagh; John N Caviness; Brittany N Dugger; Geidy Serrano; Christine Belden; Brian H Smith; Lucia Sue; Kathryn J Davis; Edward Zamrini; Thomas G Beach Journal: Ann Clin Transl Neurol Date: 2017-09-08 Impact factor: 4.511