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Lookup NU author(s): Professor David Burn
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).
© 2016 The Authors Background Impaired olfaction is an important feature in Parkinson's disease (PD) and other neurological diseases. A variety of smell identification tests exist such as “Sniffin’ Sticks” and the University of Pennsylvania Smell Identification Test (UPSIT). An important part of research is being able to replicate findings or combining studies in a meta-analysis. This is difficult if olfaction has been measured using different metrics. We present conversion methods between the: UPSIT, Sniffin’ 16, and Brief-SIT (B-SIT); and Sniffin’ 12 and Sniffin’ 16 odour identification tests. Methods We used two incident cohorts of patients with PD who were tested with either the Sniffin’ 16 (n = 1131) or UPSIT (n = 980) and a validation dataset of 128 individuals who took both tests. We used the equipercentile and Item Response Theory (IRT) methods to equate the olfaction scales. Results The equipercentile conversion suggested some bias between UPSIT and Sniffin’ 16 tests across the two groups. The IRT method shows very good characteristics between the true and converted Sniffin’ 16 (delta mean = 0.14, median = 0) based on UPSIT. The equipercentile conversion between the Sniffin’ 12 and 16 item worked well (delta mean = 0.01, median = 0). The UPSIT to B-SIT conversion showed evidence of bias but amongst PD cases worked well (mean delta = −0.08, median = 0). Conclusion We have demonstrated that one can convert UPSIT to B-SIT or Sniffin’ 16, and Sniffin’ 12 to 16 scores in a valid way. This can facilitate direct comparison between tests aiding future collaborative analyses and evidence synthesis.
Author(s): Lawton M, Hu MTM, Baig F, Ruffmann C, Barron E, Swallow DMA, Malek N, Grosset KA, Bajaj N, Barker RA, Williams N, Burn DJ, Foltynie T, Morris HR, Wood NW, May MT, Grosset DG, Ben-Shlomo Y
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Parkinsonism and Related Disorders
Year: 2016
Volume: 33
Pages: 96-101
Print publication date: 01/12/2016
Online publication date: 25/09/2016
Acceptance date: 23/09/2016
Date deposited: 12/05/2017
ISSN (print): 1353-8020
ISSN (electronic): 1873-5126
Publisher: Elsevier Ltd
URL: http://doi.org/10.1016/j.parkreldis.2016.09.023
DOI: 10.1016/j.parkreldis.2016.09.023
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