Purpose: To provide up-to-date and detailed normative data based on a large-scale sample, increasing diagnostic validity by reference to narrow age groups as previous normative values were based upon smaller sample sizes-especially in the group of older subjects.
Method: Data were obtained from 9139 healthy subjects (4928 females aged 5-96 years and 4211 males aged 5-91 years). The standard "Sniffin' Sticks" test was applied, comprising threshold (T), discrimination (D) and identification (I) subtests, and yielding a TDI sum score.
Results: Hyposmia was established at a TDI score of less than 30.75. Age-related changes were found in each domain, most pronounced for thresholds. Individuals aged 20-30 years performed best, whereas children below the age of 10 and adults above the age of 71 scored only half as well. Sex-related differences were in favor of women.
Conclusions: Data provide guidance for assessing individual olfactory performance in relation to specific age groups. Significant gender and age effects were observed, with a most pronounced increase of olfactory test scores between age 5 through 20 years and a dramatic decrease at the age of 60 through 71 years.
Keywords: Discrimination; Identification; Normative data; Olfaction; Sniffin’ Sticks; Threshold.