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Methods to assess olfaction in pediatric patients: a systematic review from the international YO-IFOS study group

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Abstract

Objective

Olfaction is an important sense in children, but its measurement is usually disregarded or neglected. There has been increasing interest in olfaction in recent years, and many olfaction assessment tests have been developed to assess pediatric patients. In this systematic review, we identify and compare different olfaction assessment tests used in the pediatric population

Data sources

Pubmed (Medline), the Cochrane Library, EMBASE and Trip Database.

Review methods

The main outcome was review of the tests used to assess olfaction. The secondary outcomes were review of differences between tests regarding sex, age, exercises and odorants.

Results

A total of 18 articles fulfilled the established inclusion criteria.

Conclusions

Olfaction assessment in children should combine different methods of evaluation, and not rely only on identification tasks. There are still many questions to answer. There is a great need for a specific test for children under 5 years old. Also, there is not a real cutoff value to define hyposmia yet; real cutoff values and values adapted to children’s development are keenly needed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Young-Otolaryngologists of the International Federations of Oto-Rhino-Laryngological Societies (YO-IFOS) Study Group, Paris, France

    Christian Calvo-Henríquez, Carlos Chiesa-Estomba, Gabriel Martinez-Capoccioni, Jerome R. Lechien, Miguel Mayo-Yáñez & Ana Faraldo-García

  2. Service of Otolaryngology, Hospital Complex of Santiago de Compostela, Travesía de Choupana, s/n, 15706, Santiago de Compostela, Spain

    Christian Calvo-Henríquez, Gabriel Martinez-Capoccioni & Ana Faraldo-García

  3. Service of Otolaryngology, Donostia University Hospital, Donostia, Spain

    Carlos Chiesa-Estomba

  4. Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, CHU Saint-Pierre, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium

    Jerome R. Lechien

  5. Service of Otolaryngology, Hospital Complex of Vigo, Vigo, Spain

    Xenia Mota-Rojas

  6. Service of Otolaryngology, Hospital Complex of La Coruña, La Coruña, Spain

    Miguel Mayo-Yáñez

Authors
  1. Christian Calvo-Henríquez
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  2. Carlos Chiesa-Estomba
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Correspondence to Christian Calvo-Henríquez.

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This work is part of the research completed by Christian Calvo-Henriquez, MD, to obtain a PhD degree.

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Calvo-Henríquez, C., Chiesa-Estomba, C., Martinez-Capoccioni, G. et al. Methods to assess olfaction in pediatric patients: a systematic review from the international YO-IFOS study group. Eur Arch Otorhinolaryngol 277, 313–321 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00405-019-05705-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00405-019-05705-0

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