Researchers and patient and care advocates at The Ottawa Hospital pioneer a new scratch-and-sniff test to detect Parkinson’s disease earlier. Second row, left to right: Dr. Michael Schlossmacher, Dr. Julianna Tomlinson and Kelsey Grimes (core team members). Front row, left to right: Dr. David Lewis, Christina Lewis (patient and caregiver advocates) and Dr. Juan Li (core team member)When it comes to early signs of Parkinson’s disease, many individuals experience a significant reduction in their sense of smell long before their motor symptoms. Current smell tests have up to 40 scents, but an international team, led by Dr. Juan Li and Dr. Michael Schlossmacher, has developed a simplified scratch-and-sniff test that works just as well and could be used to diagnose Parkinson’s earlier.
Their study, published in the journal npj Parkinson's Disease, found that as few as seven scents —licorice, banana, clove, rose, mint, pineapple and cinnamon— gave the best results from current smell test kits. Using these results, the team created a new simplified smell test, NeuroScent™.
The team tested the new smell test on 301 people with Parkinson’s disease and 281 healthy participants. Those who were unable to identify four or fewer of the seven scents were much more likely to have Parkinson’s disease. The study also found that age and sex influence the sense of smell, with older male patients showing the lowest scores overall.
The NeuroScent™ card also features an option for subjects who can’t identify an odorant from the test, a new addition that removes incorrect categorization and enhances compliance.
While further testing is required with more diverse demographics, this research is a step towards earlier and more accurate detection and early treatment of Parkinson’s patients.
Authors: Juan Li, Kelsey Grimes, Joseph Saade, Julianna J. Tomlinson, Tiago A. Mestre, Sebastian Schade, Sandrina Weber, Mohammed Dakna, Tamara Wicke, Elisabeth Lang, Claudia Trenkwalder, Natalina Salmaso, Andrew Frank, Tim Ramsay, Douglas Manuel, Brit Mollenhauer, Michael G. Schlossmacher
Funding: Parkinson Research Consortium Ottawa, uOttawa Brain & Mind Research Institute, Parkinson Canada, Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research, Department of Medicine, The Ottawa Hospital Foundation, TD Bank Group, the Uttra & Subhas Bhargava Family, the Paracelsus-Elena Klinik Kassel, Parkinson Fonds Deutschland, the Deutsche Parkinson Vereinigung, and the Aligning Science Across Parkinson’s (ASAP) initiative.
The Ottawa Hospital is a leading academic health, research and learning hospital proudly affiliated with the University of Ottawa. All researchers at The Ottawa Hospital follow a Responsible Innovation Framework for developing and commercializing innovations in a responsible way.
