Korean J Otorhinolaryngol-Head Neck Surg.  2015 Jun;58(6):402-406. 10.3342/kjorl-hns.2015.58.6.402.

Assessing Olfactory Function in Healthy Korean Children Using the Cross-Cultural Smell Identification Test and Butanol Threshold Test

• Kim BG
• Bae WY
• Koh TK
• Seo JW
• Hong YS
• Kim YM

• KMID: 2141129
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.3342/kjorl-hns.2015.58.6.402

Abstract

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES
There are no reported studies of olfactory function of Korean children, and the existing tests of olfactory function for Korean adults may not be suitable for very young children. This study assessed the applicability of the Butanol Threshold Test (BTT) and Cross-Cultural Smell Identification Test (CC-SIT) to children.
SUBJECTS AND METHOD
A total of 79 children were included in the study: they were between 6-12 years of age, and had visited University Hospital Health Care Center between January 2012 and December 2013. All children were administered the BTT and CC-SIT.
RESULTS
Using BTT, 69.62% of the sample was classified as moderate hyposmia. On the other hand, when CC-SIT was used, 45.57% of the sample was classified as moderate and 43.04% as mild hyposmia. CC-SIT and BTT scores were not correlated. Although gender and age were not taken into account in the test results, the CC-SIT could measure age-specific olfactory development.
CONCLUSION
Our study provides fundamental data on the clinical use of the CC-SIT and BTT in healthy Korean children.

Keyword

Children; Olfactory identification test; Olfactory threshold test

MeSH Terms

Adult
Child*
Delivery of Health Care
Hand
Humans
Smell*