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Objectives@#. Cultural familiarity and safety must be considered when assessing olfactory ability. The YSK olfactory function (YOF) test is a new olfactory function test using culturally familiar odorants to Koreans. @*Methods@#. The YOF test comprises three subtests for threshold (T), discrimination (D), and identification (I). The identification test included eight universal and four Korean culture-friendly odorants, which were selected considering eight major functional groups. Data were obtained from 1,127 subjects over 19 years old. Subjects were classified as having normosmia (n=542), hyposmia (n=472), and anosmia (n=113) by self-reported olfactory function. The YOF test and the Korean version of the Sniffin’ stick test (KVSS-II) were performed on the same day in random order. Diagnostic cutoffs for anosmia and hyposmia were calculated using the Youden index (J). @*Results@#. The mean values for each T/D/I subtest and the total TDI score were as follows: normosmia (T, 4.6±2.3; D, 8.6±2.1; I, 11.1±1.7; TDI score, 24.2±4.5); hyposmia (T, 3.3±2.2; D, 7.1±2.5; I, 9.2±3.1; TDI score, 19.5±6.4); and anosmia (T, 1.7±1.2; D, 5.1±2.5; I, 5.0±3.2; TDI score, 11.8±5.6). The correlation coefficients between the YOF test and KVSS-II were 0.57, 0.65, 0.80, and 0.86 for T, D, I, and the TDI score, respectively (P<0.001). The diagnostic cutoffs were a TDI score ≤14.5 (J=0.67) for anosmia and 14.5(TDI score ≤21.0 (J=0.38) for hyposmia. The diagnostic efficacy of the YOF test (area under the curve [AUC], 0.88) was equivalent to that of the KVSS-II (AUC, 0.88; P=0.843; DeLong method). @*Conclusion@#. The YOF test is a new olfactory test using safe and Korean culture-friendly odorants. It showed equivalent validity with the conventional olfactory function test. Furthermore, the YOF test provides information on the major functional groups of odorants, potentially enabling a more comprehensive interpretation for patients with olfactory disorders.
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BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Sudden sensorineural hearing loss (S-SNHL) occurs abruptly, developing rapidly within 3 days. The criteria for the diagnosis of S-SNHL are idiopathic hearing loss of at least 30 dB over at least three serial test frequencies. This study estimated whether S-SNHL increases the risk of stroke using Korean National Health Insurance Service National Sample Cohort (NHIS-NSC 2002-2013) data. SUBJECTS AND METHOD: Among NHIS-NSC 2002-2013, we excluded the patients diagnosed as S-SNHL or stroke in 2002. The patients who were diagnosed and treated as S-SNHL (n=2510) and the comparison group (n=12550) extracted using propensity score matching were enrolled. During an 11-year follow-up period until December 2013, the incidence of stroke among two groups was analyzed and the result was adjusted for the impact of comorbidities such as hypertension, diabetes, and chronic kidney disease with Cox proportional hazard regression. RESULTS: According to our data, 10.8% of S-SNHL patients (among 2510) and 7.8% of the comparison group (among 12550) had strokes. Stroke incidence was reported higher in patients with history of S-SNHL compared to the comparison group [hazard (HR), 1.15; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.01-1.32] followed by patients with hypertension (HR, 2.51; 95% CI, 2.22-2.84), diabetes mellitus (HR, 1.62; 95% CI, 1.43-1.85). In terms of the type of strokes, S-SNHL increased the risk of ischemic stroke (HR, 1.18; 95% CI, 1.02-1.37). CONCLUSION: S-SNHL appeared to be associated with an increased risk of developing stroke after adjusting for other risk factors.