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54/100

✓ Peer-reviewed alzhub usefulness score 54 out of 100. Digital health tools

Topic: Brain proteins, microglia and lab models

To develop a simplified smell test for identifying patients with Parkinson's disease (PD), we reevaluated the Sniffin'-Sticks-Identification-Test (SST-ID) and University-of-Pennsylvania-Smell-Identification-Test (UPSIT), using three case-control studies. These included 301 patients with PD or dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB), 68 subjects with multiple-system atrophy (MSA) or progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP), and 281 healthy controls (HC). Scents were ranked by area-under-the-curve values for group classification and results leveraged by 8 published studies with 5853 individuals. PD/DLB patients showed markedly worse olfaction than controls, whereas scores for MSA/PSP subjects were intermediate. We identified and validated a subset of 7 shared odorants that performed similarly to the traditional 16-scent SST-ID and 40-scent UPSIT tests in distinguishing PD/DLB from HC. There, the identification of 4 or fewer scents out of 7 served as an effective cut-off between the two groups. We also identified a critical role for distractors (from correct answers) and age on olfaction performance.

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APA 7th

Li, J., Grimes, K. F., Saade, J., Tomlinson, J. J., Mestre, T., Schade, S., et al. (2025). Development of a simplified smell test to identify Parkinson’s disease using multiple cohorts, machine learning and item response theory. npj Parkinson s Disease. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41531-025-00904-5

Vancouver

Li J, Grimes KF, Saade J, Tomlinson JJ, Mestre T, Schade S, et al. Development of a simplified smell test to identify Parkinson’s disease using multiple cohorts, machine learning and item response theory. npj Parkinson s Disease. 2025. doi:10.1038/s41531-025-00904-5. PMID: 40268961.

BibTeX

@article{li2025-40268961,
  author  = {Li, Juan and Grimes, Kelsey F. and Saade, Joseph and Tomlinson, Julianna J. and Mestre, Tiago and Schade, Sebastian and Weber, Sandrina and Dakna, Mohammed and others},
  title   = {{Development of a simplified smell test to identify Parkinson’s disease using multiple cohorts, machine learning and item response theory}},
  journal = {npj Parkinson s Disease},
  year    = {2025},
  doi     = {10.1038/s41531-025-00904-5},
  pmid    = {40268961},
  url     = {https://doi.org/10.1038/s41531-025-00904-5}
}

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Key findings

Scents were ranked by area-under-the-curve values for group classification and results leveraged by 8 published studies with 5853 individuals.

Why it matters

This study developed a simplified 7-odorant smell test that performed similarly to longer tests in distinguishing Parkinson's disease and dementia with Lewy bodies from healthy controls. It is a diagnostic aid for these conditions, not a treatment, cure or prevention for Alzheimer's disease.

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Study details

Study designcase-control study
Participants301
Evidence strengthModerate

How this study scored 54/100

Published in a peer-reviewed journal, and it is a case-control study. Scored zero for effect reported and randomized / blinded because the record does not state it.

Component	Points	Why
Journal tier	7 / 10	Tier 3 — peer-reviewed journal (npj Parkinson s Disease)
Journal's citation record	1 / 4	Npj Parkinson s Disease: journal h-index 87 (OpenAlex, 2026-10-29)
Study design	6 / 12	A case-control study
Strength of evidence	3 / 5	Rated “moderate” in our summary
Peer-review validation	10 / 10	Peer-reviewed. Published as an article in a named peer-reviewed journal.
How recent	4 / 5	2025 — within 3 year(s) of the newest study here
Sample size	2 / 4	301 participants
Effect reported	0 / 3	No effect size reported — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0)
Studied in people	3 / 3	Studied in people (participant count stated)
Randomized / blinded	0 / 2	No randomization or blinding stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0)
Times cited	2 / 7	Cited 8 times (OpenAlex, 2026-10-10)
Citations per year	1 / 5	2.7 citations a year over 3 year(s) since 2025
Impact for its field and year	3 / 6	Cited 4.7× the average for papers of its field and year (OpenAlex FWCI)
Cited by studies here	0 / 6	No other study in this library cites it
Still being cited	1 / 4	Cited 8 times in 2024–2026 (2026 still in progress; OpenAlex)
Senior author's track record	3 / 4	Last-listed author Michael G. Schlossmacher: h-index 55 (OpenAlex, whole career)
Institution's track record	1 / 3	University of Göttingen: institution h-index 934 (OpenAlex)
Multicenter collaboration	3 / 3	OpenAlex lists 11 institution(s) in 3 countries
Indexed in PubMed	2 / 2	Indexed in PubMed (PMID 40268961)
Free to read	2 / 2	Free to read
Total	54 / 100	—

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