Results of olfactory testing in children of primary and middle school age

Objective: comparative analysis of the results of olfactory identification tests used in primary and secondary school children. Material and methods. The study included 245 students from Samara: group 1 — primary school children (7-11 years old, n=149) and group 2 — secondary school children (12-15 years old, n=96). Olfactory assessment was carried out using Sniffin' Sticks Screening Test 12 (SST-12) and the ReviSmell hardware and software complex. Results. The proposed SST-12 odorants were recognized by children in 100% of cases, while the ReviSmell hardware and software complex (HSC) yielded 95.9-98.4% recognition. For children in group 1, the overall average SST-12 score was 8.2±1.8 points, while in group 2 it was 8.9±1.4 points (p<0.001). The best result in children of group 1 was noted for the smells of "coffee" (92.6%), "mint" (81.2%), "banana" (79.2%), "mixture" (85.2%), in group 2 —for the smells of "banana" (88.5%), "pineapple" (83.3%), "mixture" (80.2%) and "orange" (79.2%). The assessment of olfactory function on the ReviSmell hardware and software showed the best result for children of group 1 (p<0.001). Identification of all five odorants (lavender, peony, spruce, eucalyptus, carnation) — 61.1-65.1%; in group 2-34.4-58.3%. The greatest difference was found for the identification of the smells of "carnation" (27.7%) and "peony" (30.1 %), less pronounced for the smells of "spruce" (17.2%) and "eucalyptus" (11.1%). Conclusion. Comparable results were obtained from the application of the screening identification test for the assessment of olfactory sense SST-12 and the new method for assessing olfactory sense using virtual reality technology on the APCS ReviSmell. With both methods of assessment, lower values were observed in the group of primary school children.