Menon Unnikrishnan, Gopalakrishnan Suja, Rajnarayan Sadhana, Rajesh Nandini Lekha, Korambra Neha Pramodan, Saraswathy L, Lalithambika C V, Hari Harsha
Department of ENT, Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham University, AIMS Ponekkara P O, Kochi, 682041 Kerala India.
Department of Physiology, Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham University, Kochi, Kerala India.
Indian J Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg. 2025 May;77(5):2131-2136. doi: 10.1007/s12070-025-05486-5. Epub 2025 Apr 22.
The testing of the olfactory sense has gained importance after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Internationally used kits such as the University of Pennsylvania Smell Identification Test (UPSIT) is not appropriate for all populations. From an Indian perspective, there is need for a simple, easily available, kit that can test the sense of smell in local populations; in the present case, the south Indian. With this aim, the objective of this study was to create a set of the most commonly recognized odorants in the accessible population of a cross-section of the community in Kochi, a metropolitan city in Kerala, south India. An initial list was created with the help of responses to a questionnaire disseminated amongst a random cross-section of people domiciled in south India. The result was a set of nearly 600 substances, from which the top 16 were selected, for a pilot. This was done to calculate sample size and assess the feasibility of the study in the community. Both the studies were published in the Kerala Sate ENT journal. 500 persons with no self-reported smell disorders were tested. Coffee, Camphor, Clove, Garlic, and Naphthalene were the top five odorants identified by the subjects. Some of these are peculiar to the place, in terms of familiarity and availability. This study highlights the difference in recognizability of odorants in a specific place. We hope to utilize the results for the creation of an actual olfactory kit for use by the medical community.
在新冠疫情爆发后，嗅觉测试变得愈发重要。国际上常用的测试工具，如宾夕法尼亚大学嗅觉识别测试（UPSIT）并不适用于所有人群。从印度的角度来看，需要一种简单、易于获取的工具包，能够对当地人群，在本案例中即南印度人群的嗅觉进行测试。出于这一目的，本研究的目标是在印度南部喀拉拉邦首府科钦市的一个社区横断面的可及人群中，找出一组最常被识别的气味物质。通过对一份在南印度随机抽取的人群中分发的问卷的回复，初步列出了一份清单。结果得到了一组近600种物质，从中挑选出前16种进行试点。这样做是为了计算样本量并评估该研究在社区中的可行性。这两项研究都发表在了《喀拉拉邦耳鼻喉科杂志》上。对500名自称没有嗅觉障碍的人进行了测试。咖啡、樟脑、丁香、大蒜和萘是受试者识别出的前五种气味物质。其中一些在熟悉程度和可得性方面是该地区特有的。这项研究突出了特定地点气味物质可识别性的差异。我们希望利用这些结果来制作一个供医学界使用的实际嗅觉测试工具包。
