{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,14]],"date-time":"2026-09-14T09:07:19Z","timestamp":1789376839043,"version":"build-2803163510"},"reference-count":26,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"9","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,13]],"date-time":"2026-09-13T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1789257600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Children"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Background\/Objectives: Odor identification in children is influenced by age and developmental factors, yet age-related variation in Brief Smell Identification Test (B-SIT) performance remains insufficiently characterized. This study aimed to characterize age-related differences in B-SIT performance and examine its association with chronological age. Methods: This prospective cross-sectional study included 162 children aged 6\u201314 years recruited between January 2025 and January 2026. Participants completed the Turkish version of the B-SIT and were categorized as 6\u20138 years (n = 55), 9\u201311 years (n = 54), and 12\u201314 years (n = 53). B-SIT scores were compared using the Kruskal\u2013Wallis test with Bonferroni-adjusted pairwise comparisons. Associations with age were assessed using Spearman correlation and simple linear regression. Results: Among the 162 children included in the study, B-SIT scores differed significantly among age groups (H(2) = 13.984, p = 0.001), with median scores of 9, 9, and 10, respectively. After Bonferroni correction, only the difference between the 6\u20138- and 12\u201314-year groups remained significant (p &lt; 0.001). Age showed a modest positive association with B-SIT score (\u03c1 = 0.325, p &lt; 0.001). Regression analysis confirmed this association (B = 0.212, 95% CI: 0.117\u20130.308; \u03b2 = 0.328; p &lt; 0.001), with age explaining 10.8% of score variance (R2 = 0.108). Conclusions: B-SIT performance increases with age during childhood, although age explains only a limited proportion of individual variability. Age should therefore be considered when interpreting pediatric B-SIT scores.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/children13091239","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,14]],"date-time":"2026-09-14T08:10:23Z","timestamp":1789373423000},"page":"1239","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Age-Related Variation in Odor Identification Performance in Children Assessed with the Brief Smell Identification Test"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"13","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0007-2847-3941","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Taner","family":"Ad\u0131g\u00fczel","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, Yalova University, 77200 Yalova, T\u00fcrkiye"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-8113-8831","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Mehmet Ali","family":"Say","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Faculty of Medicine, Yalova University, 77200 Yalova, T\u00fcrkiye"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,13]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Croy, I., Negoias, S., Novakova, L., Landis, B.N., and Hummel, T. (2012). Learning about the functions of the olfactory system from people without a sense of smell. PLoS ONE, 7.","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0033365"},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1399","DOI":"10.1002\/ohn.415","article-title":"Olfactory dysfunction in children: A scoping review","volume":"169","author":"Payandeh","year":"2023","journal-title":"Otolaryngol. Head Neck Surg."},{"key":"ref_3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1928","DOI":"10.1038\/s41598-017-01465-1","article-title":"Olfactory threshold and odor discrimination ability in children\u2014Evaluation of a modified \u201cSniffin\u2019 Sticks\u201d test","volume":"7","author":"Gellrich","year":"2017","journal-title":"Sci. Rep."},{"key":"ref_4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Trecca, E.M.C., Reale, M., Leone, L., Cassano, M., della Volpe, A., La Mantia, I., Pagella, F., and Cantone, E. (2026). Clinical evaluation of pediatric olfactory disorders: A review from etiology to management. Front. Allergy, 7.","DOI":"10.3389\/falgy.2026.1741382"},{"key":"ref_5","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1062","DOI":"10.1080\/13803391003683070","article-title":"Cognitive factors in odor detection, odor discrimination, and odor identification tasks","volume":"32","author":"Hedner","year":"2010","journal-title":"J. Clin. Exp. Neuropsychol."},{"key":"ref_6","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"309","DOI":"10.1093\/chemse\/23.3.309","article-title":"Odor identification: Perceptual and semantic dimensions","volume":"23","author":"Cain","year":"1998","journal-title":"Chem. Senses"},{"key":"ref_7","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1937","DOI":"10.1007\/s00405-014-3263-4","article-title":"Changes of olfactory abilities in relation to age: Odor identification in more than 1400 people aged 4 to 80 years","volume":"272","author":"Sorokowska","year":"2015","journal-title":"Eur. Arch. Otorhinolaryngol."},{"key":"ref_8","first-page":"511","article-title":"Maturation of odour identification ability and related factors in children","volume":"59","author":"Mori","year":"2021","journal-title":"Rhinology"},{"key":"ref_9","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"10","DOI":"10.1186\/s40463-015-0061-y","article-title":"Olfactory testing in children using objective tools: Comparison of Sniffin\u2019 Sticks and University of Pennsylvania Smell Identification Test (UPSIT)","volume":"44","author":"Hugh","year":"2015","journal-title":"J. Otolaryngol. Head Neck Surg."},{"key":"ref_10","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"S32","DOI":"10.1212\/WNL.0b013e3182872eb4","article-title":"Olfactory assessment using the NIH Toolbox","volume":"80","author":"Dalton","year":"2013","journal-title":"Neurology"},{"key":"ref_11","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"265","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jpeds.2018.03.011","article-title":"Development of an International Odor Identification Test for Children: The Universal Sniff Test","volume":"198","author":"Schriever","year":"2018","journal-title":"J. Pediatr."},{"key":"ref_12","first-page":"471","article-title":"\u201cU-Sniff\u201d\u2014The International Odor Identification Test for Children: An Extension of Its Normative Database and Study of Global Reliability","volume":"58","author":"Zou","year":"2020","journal-title":"Rhinology"},{"key":"ref_13","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"946","DOI":"10.1080\/13854046.2013.796406","article-title":"Normative performance on the Brief Smell Identification Test (BSIT) in a multi-ethnic bilingual cohort: A Project FRONTIER study","volume":"27","author":"Menon","year":"2013","journal-title":"Clin. Neuropsychol."},{"key":"ref_14","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1304","DOI":"10.1038\/s41390-020-1083-3","article-title":"Odor identification performance in children aged 3\u20136 years","volume":"89","author":"Schriever","year":"2021","journal-title":"Pediatr. Res."},{"key":"ref_15","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2937","DOI":"10.1038\/s41598-018-20236-0","article-title":"Effects of diversity in olfactory environment on children\u2019s sense of smell","volume":"8","year":"2018","journal-title":"Sci. Rep."},{"key":"ref_16","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"4","DOI":"10.5152\/tao.2015.694","article-title":"Effect of septorhinoplasty on olfactory function: Assessment using the Brief Smell Identification Test","volume":"53","author":"Dengiz","year":"2015","journal-title":"Turk. Arch. Otorhinolaryngol."},{"key":"ref_17","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Schriever, V.A., Mori, E., Petters, W., Boerner, C., Smitka, M., and Hummel, T. (2014). The \u201cSniffin\u2019 Kids\u201d test\u2014A 14-item odor identification test for children. PLoS ONE, 9.","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0101086"},{"key":"ref_18","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"26","DOI":"10.1177\/19458924221124692","article-title":"Profiles of odorant specific performance in olfactory testing","volume":"37","author":"Schlosser","year":"2023","journal-title":"Am. J. Rhinol. Allergy"},{"key":"ref_19","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Zhang, H., Wang, M., Qian, M., and Wei, H. (2023). Odor familiarity and improvement of olfactory identification test in Chinese population. Front. Psychol., 14.","DOI":"10.3389\/fpsyg.2023.1278668"},{"key":"ref_20","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"bjaf049","DOI":"10.1093\/chemse\/bjaf049","article-title":"Free odor identification engages domain-general cognitive abilities in old adults","volume":"50","author":"Olofsson","year":"2025","journal-title":"Chem. Senses"},{"key":"ref_21","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"105445","DOI":"10.1016\/j.cognition.2023.105445","article-title":"Odor identification errors reveal cognitive aspects of age-associated smell loss","volume":"236","author":"Raj","year":"2023","journal-title":"Cognition"},{"key":"ref_22","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1457","DOI":"10.1068\/p241457","article-title":"Life-span development of odor identification, learning, and olfactory sensitivity","volume":"24","author":"Cain","year":"1995","journal-title":"Perception"},{"key":"ref_23","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"337","DOI":"10.1093\/chemse\/24.3.337","article-title":"Odor identification, consistency of label use, olfactory threshold and their relationships to odor memory over the human lifespan","volume":"24","author":"Lehrner","year":"1999","journal-title":"Chem. Senses"},{"key":"ref_24","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"268","DOI":"10.1002\/dev.20363","article-title":"Development of olfactory ability in children: Sensitivity and identification","volume":"51","author":"Rouby","year":"2009","journal-title":"Dev. Psychobiol."},{"key":"ref_25","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"57","DOI":"10.1016\/j.wjorl.2018.02.002","article-title":"Olfactory perception in children","volume":"4","author":"Cameron","year":"2018","journal-title":"World J. Otorhinolaryngol. Head Neck Surg."},{"key":"ref_26","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Macchi, A., Giorli, A., Cantone, E., Pipolo, G.C., Arnone, F., Barbone, U., Bertazzoni, G., Bianchini, C., Ciofalo, A., and Cipolla, F. (2023). Sense of Smell in Chronic Rhinosinusitis: A Multicentric Study on 811 Patients. Front. Allergy, 4.","DOI":"10.3389\/falgy.2023.1083964"}],"container-title":["Children"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2227-9067\/13\/9\/1239\/pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,14]],"date-time":"2026-09-14T08:57:04Z","timestamp":1789376224000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2227-9067\/13\/9\/1239"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,13]]},"references-count":26,"journal-issue":{"issue":"9","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,9]]}},"alternative-id":["children13091239"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/children13091239","relation":{},"ISSN":["2227-9067"],"issn-type":[{"value":"2227-9067","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,13]]}}}