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. 2021 Feb 9;151(3):605–614. doi: 10.1093/jn/nxaa400

TABLE 1.

Characteristics for all participants and stratified by olfactory and gustatory function1

n All Hyposmia (n = 66) Normosmia (n = 292) P value Hypogeusia (n = 33) Normogeusia (n = 325) P value
Demographics
 Age, y 359 73 [69–77] 75 [71–81] 72 [69–77] <0.001 72 [69–77] 73 [69–77] 0.96
 Male 359 209 (58.2) 40 (60.6) 169 (57.9) 0.68 27 (81.8) 182 (56.0) <0.01
Nutritional status
 BMI, kg/m2 359 24.8 ± 2.5 25.0 ± 2.5 24.7 ± 2.5 0.39 25.3 ± 2.8 24.7 ± 2.5 0.11
 Weight difference, %/2 y 359 −0.5 ± 4.4 −1.4 ± 3.9 −0.3 ± 4.4 0.05 −0.5 ± 4.1 −0.4 ± 4.5 0.94
 ASMMI, kg/m2 344 6.8 ± 0.9 6.8 ± 0.9 6.8 ± 0.8 0.79 7.1 ± 0.8 6.8 ± 0.9 0.04
 Undernutrition2 359 77 (21.4) 19 (28.8) 58 (19.9) 0.10 6 (18.2) 71 (21.8) 1.00
 Poor appetite3 358 22 (6.1) 7 (10.6) 15 (5.2) 0.24 2 (6.1) 20 (6.2) 1.00
Food intake
 Energy, kcal/d 355 2117 ± 530 2137 ± 643 2113 ± 504 0.77 2210 ± 585 2106 ± 525 0.30
 Carbohydrates, En% 355 41.1 ± 6.7 42.7 ± 7.6 40.8 ± 6.4 0.04 42.5 ± 8.1 41.0 ± 6.6 0.25
 Protein, En% 355 14.6 ± 2.3 14.0 ± 2.5 14.8 ± 2.2 0.01 14.5 ± 2.1 14.6 ± 2.3 0.76
 Fat, En% 355 34.9 ± 5.7 35.2 ± 6.9 34.9 ± 5.4 0.69 33.3 ± 6.7 35.1 ± 5.6 0.10
 Alcohol, En% 355 3.1 [0.6–6.9] 1.9 [0.3–4.6] 3.4 [0.8–7.1] 0.03 2.8 [1.0–7.6] 3.1 [0.5–6.9] 0.34
 DHD 355 83.9 ± 16.2 81.6 ± 16.1 84.4 ± 16.1 0.21 78.4 ± 17.9 84.5 ± 15.9 0.05
 AHEI 355 60.8 ± 10.7 57.8 ± 10.3 61.5 ± 10.7 0.01 58.6 ± 10.4 61.0 ± 10.8 0.24
 MDS index 355 33.0 ± 4.6 32.0 ± 4.9 33.2 ± 4.5 0.05 32.7 ± 4.1 33.0 ± 4.7 0.69
Taste and smell
 Poor total taste score4 358 33 (9.2) 7 (10.6) 26 (8.9) 0.81
 Poor sweet 358 55 (15.4) 12 (18.2) 43 (14.8) 0.70 17 (51.5) 38 (11.7) <0.001
 Poor sour 358 113 (31.6) 23 (34.8) 90 (30.9) 0.66 27 (81.8) 86 (26.5) <0.001
 Poor salty 358 134 (37.4) 30 (45.5) 103 (35.3) 0.16 25 (75.8) 109 (33.5) <0.001
 Poor bitter 358 28 (7.8) 9 (13.6) 19 (6.5) 0.07 14 (42.4) 14 (4.3) <0.001
 Poor umami 358 116 (32.4) 25 (37.9) 91 (31.3) 0.31 21 (63.6) 95 (29.2) <0.001
 Self-reported poor taste 359 10 (2.8) 6 (9.1) 4 (1.4) <0.01 1 (3.0) 9 (2.8) 1.00
 Poor TDI score5 141 24 (17.0) 22 (68.8) 2 (1.8) <0.001 1 (8.3) 23 (17.8) 0.21
 Poor T score 144 34 (23.6) 19 (57.6) 15 (13.5) <0.001 3 (25.0) 31 (23.5) 1.00
 Poor D score 144 29 (20.1) 18 (56.3) 11 (9.8) <0.001 1 (8.3) 28 (21.2) 0.46
 Poor I score 358 66 (18.4) 7 (21.2) 59 (18.2) 0.81
 Self-reported poor smell 359 21 (5.8) 11 (16.7) 10 (3.4) <0.001 4 (12.1) 17 (5.2) 0.12
Covariates
 Current smoking 359 27 (7.5) 4 (6.1) 23 (7.9) 0.80 4 (12.1) 23 (7.1) 0.28
 MMSE score 359 29 [28–30] 28 [27–29] 29 [28–30] 0.11 29 [27–29] 29 [28–30] 0.77
 CES-D score 357 4 [2–8] 6 [3–11] 4 [2–8] 0.41 4 [1–8] 5 [2–8] 0.32
 Number of medications 359 0.31 0.82
  0 98 (27.3) 13 (19.7) 85 (29.1) 7 (21.2) 90 (27.7)
  1–4 191 (53.2) 38 (57.6) 152 (52.1) 19 (57.6) 172 (52.9)
  ≥5 70 (19.5) 15 (22.7) 55 (18.8) 7 (21.2) 63 (19.4)
 Education 359 0.04 0.70
  Low 39 (10.9) 7 (10.6) 32 (11.0) 5 (15.2) 34 (10.5)
  Medium 187 (52.1) 43 (65.2) 143 (49.0) 17 (51.5) 169 (52.0)
  High 133 (37.0) 16 (24.2) 117 (40.1) 11 (33.3) 122 (37.5)
1

Values are mean ± SD, median [IQR], or n (%) unless otherwise indicated. AHEI, Alternative Healthy Eating Index 2010; ASMMI, Appendicular Skeletal Muscle Mass Index; CES-D, Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression; DHD, Dutch Healthy Diet index 2015; En%, percentage energy intake; MDS, Mediterranean Diet Score; MMSE, Mini Mental State Examination; TDI, Threshold Discrimination Identification.

2

Undernutrition: >5% body weight loss averaged over 2 y or BMI <20 (if age <70 y) or BMI <22 (if age >70 y).

3

Poor appetite: Council of Nutrition Appetite Questionnaire score <28.

4

Poor taste: total taste score <6, sweet score <2, sour score <2, salty score <2, bitter score <1, or umami score <1.

5

Poor smell: TDI score ≤19.5, T score ≤2.5, D score ≤7, or I score ≤9.