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.
Parkinson’s disease; University of Pennsylvania Smell Identification Test; olfaction; diagnostic test
