Objective: To characterize olfactory impairment in Parkinson’s disease (PD), multiple system atrophy (MSA) and progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP).

Background: In the previous study, we found that patients with PD had severe olfactory impairment using an open essence (OE) compared to those with MSA or PSP and that a cut-off OE score of 4 had 60.2% sensitivity and 77.6% specificity for differentiating PD patients from MSA and PSP patients.. Also, a cut-off OE score of 6 was beneficial for differentiating PD patients from controls with 84.7% sensitivity and 85.4% specificity.

Method: A card-type odor identification test, Open Essence (OE, Wako, Japan), which consists of 12 different odorants familiar to Japanese subjects, was administered to 100 PD patients, 32 MSA patients, 18 PSP patients and 111 control subjects.

Results: The correct answer rates for the curry, Japanese orange and perfume odorants in patients with PD were lower than those with MSA and PSP and controls. and the PD patients had lower OE subscores (curry, Japanese orange and perfume) than the MSA, PSP patients and control subjects[KS1] . A cut-off OE subscore (curry, Japanese orange and perfume) of 1 was beneficial for differentiating PD patients from MSA patients with 69.0% sensitivity and 62.5% specificity, PSP patients with 69.0% sensitivity and 88.9% specificity and control subjects with 69.0% sensitivity and 80.2% specificity. PD patients also tended to respond “not detected” and ‘’unknown” choices compared with MSA or PSP patients.

Conclusion: PD patients had severe olfactory impairments compared to  MSA and PSP patients and controls subjects. The answer patterns and the combined use of specific odorants may also be useful in differentiating PD from atypical parkinsonian syndrome.

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MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/characterizing-olfactory-impairment-in-patients-with-parkinsons-disease-and-related-disorders/