Sniff Test Could Help Detect Autism, Study

A new study has revealed that it is now possible to accurately test for autism by looking at the way children sniff different aromas.

The research has found that children with autism go on to sniff substances in the same way regardless of how pleasant or bad the scent is.

Scientists are positive that the smell test may prove to be a useful and early indicator of autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

"The difference in sniffing pattern between the typically developing children and children with autism was simply overwhelming," said Noam Sobel of the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel.

For the study, scientists included 18 children with ASD and another 18 children were diagnosed as normal.

The average age of these children was 7 years and all of them were subjected to a test where they had to sniff pleasant and bad odors, while the researchers measured their responses.

During the experiment it was found that normal children adjusted their sniffing within 305 milliseconds of smelling an odor while children on the autism spectrum did not record a similar response.

The scientists went on to reveal that a classification on ASD between the two groups of kids could be made correctly 81 percent of the time with or without a diagnosis.

"We can identify autism and its severity with meaningful accuracy within less than 10 minutes using a test that is completely non-verbal and entails no task to follow," Sobel said.

"This raises the hope that these findings could form the base for development of a diagnostic tool that can be applied very early on, such as in toddlers only a few months old. Such early diagnosis would allow for more effective intervention," said Sobel.