Dissociation of age and ability on a visual analogue of the University of Pennsylvania Smell Identification Test in children with autism

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Abstract

Early olfactory identification deficits have been associated with neurodevelopmental arrest of limbic-prefrontal networks. These same networks are implicated in development of autistic-spectrum disorders. We aimed to investigate olfactory identification ability in children with high functioning autism (HFA).

Fifteen children with HFA (aged 5–9 years) and 15 age-, gender- and IQ-matched controls (CTL) were compared on their performance on a visual analogue of the University of Pennsylvania Smell Identification Test (UPSIT).

The hypothesis that children with HFA would exhibit impaired olfactory identification ability was not supported. However, contrary to the relationship found in the CTLs, smell identification ability was negatively associated with age in HFA.

The results suggest some disruption of normal developmental association between olfactory ability and age in HFA. The visual analogue of the UPSIT warrants further investigation to determine its validity and reliability in normal and other clinical populations.

Section snippets

Participants

Fifteen children with high functioning autism (HFA) between 5 and 9 years of age and with IQ levels of above 70 were recruited from the Autism Early Intervention Project. All were diagnosed with autism by a qualified clinical psychologist (AB) using the Childhood Autism Rating Scale (CARS) (Schopler, Reichler, & Renner, 1988), and the Autism-Diagnostic Interview-Revised (ADI-R) (Lord, Rutter, & La Couteur, 1994). Fifteen age-, gender- and IQ-matched control children (CTL) were recruited from

Results

Table 1 lists descriptive demographic data for the HFA and CTL groups. No significant differences between groups were found for age (t(28) = −1.58, p > .05), and current FSIQ (t(28) = −1.30, p > .05). In each group, there were 13 males and 2 females.

Table 2 shows the mean UPSIT performance and percentile score of the CTL and HFA groups, and the proportion of each group who were anosmic. These ratings and percentiles are based upon the original verbal version of the UPSIT, and not upon the Picture

Discussion

In this first investigation of olfactory identification in high-functioning autism, young patients did not show impaired olfactory identification ability when compared with age-, gender- and IQ-matched normal controls. However, they did show a significant negative relationship in their UPSIT performance and age, which was not found in the control population, implying a possible failure of the normal improvement in olfactory identification ability with age in HFA.

The finding that olfactory

Acknowledgements

Associate Professor Brewer is supported by the National Health and Medical Research Council (NH&MRC) of Australia Program Grant, an NH&MRC Career Development Award and the Colonial Foundation. We thank Ms. Sasheeka Costa for her contribution to this study and Dr. Stephen Wood for his assistance preparing this manuscript, and for his statistical advice.

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