Title:
Research to Reduce the Burden on Participants Tested for Olfactory Sensitivity in Community Health Checkups: Proposal to Change the Odour Stick From 12 types to 6 types

Authors:
Naomi Katayama, Japan

Abstract:

For many years, olfactory sensitivity tests have been conducted at community health checkups using a simple olfactory sensitivity test kit (Odour Stick: manufactured by Daiichi Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.). In this study explored whether it might be possible to assess olfactory sensitivity decline using a smaller number of odors rather than the 12 odors. We report the results of tests conducted on university students and elderly individuals. The simple odor test was conducted using the conventional 12 odors, and the results were compared between olfactory judgments using the 12 odors and those using a reduced number of odors. The subjects were university students and elderly people. As a result, olfactory test results were obtained for 101 university students and 109 elderly people, and judgments were made on 12 types (India ink, timber, perfume, menthol, mandarin oranges, curry, home gas, rose, cypress, sweaty socks, condensed milk, and fried garlic) and the five odor combinations (each of which selected six out of 12) were statistically processed. The results showed that the combination of three main scents (home gas, sweaty socks, and fried garlic) and three difficult-to-identify scents (timber, mandarin oranges, and roses) was the most consistent with the results of the 12-sensory test of odor. No statistically significant differences were found. We believe that in future resident health checkups, judgments will be possible based on the results of olfactory tests on these 6 types. 

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.51505/ijmshr.2025.9605