Trained dogs can detect the odor of Parkinson's disease

Abstract
A definitive diagnostic test for Parkinson's disease (PD) remains elusive, so identification of potential biomarkers can facilitate diagnosis and early intervention. Two dogs were trained to distinguish between dry skin swabs obtained from people with Parkinson's (PwP) and control participants. After 38–53 weeks of training on 205 samples, the dogs were tested in a double-blind trial using 60 control and 40 target (drug-naïve PwP) samples. They each showed high sensitivity (70% and 80%) and specificity (90% and 98%). This supports previous findings that dogs can be trained to reliably detect the odor of PD.

Plain language summary
There is currently no single, reliable test for Parkinson's disease. Understanding the biological changes that happen in the body may help early diagnosis. Dogs have an incredible sense of smell and have been trained to detect a variety of diseases. Here we have trained two dogs to tell the difference between the oily skin secretions, known as sebum, from people with Parkinson's and those without. After their training, the dogs were tested using 60 new control and 40 target skin swabs. The dogs correctly identified 70% and 80% of the Parkinson's samples and correctly ignored 90% and 98% of the control samples. These results support earlier research showing that dogs can be trained to reliably detect the smell of Parkinson's disease.