Table 1.
Etiologies associated with taste dysfunction in childhood
| Diagnosis | Author | Subjects (n) | Age (years) | Stimuli (number of solutions) | Taste test | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Asthma | Arias-Guillen et al. 2020 | Patients (n = 46); controls (n = 45) | 6–7 | Sucrose (13); quinine hydrochloride (15) | DT using taste solutions, 2AFC staircase | Children with asthma required higher concentrations to discriminate between the tastant and distilled water. |
| Autism | Bennetto et al. 2007 | Autism (n = 21); controls (n = 27) | 10–18 | Sucrose (1); sodium chloride (1); citric acid (1); quinine hydrochloride (1) | DT using EGM, 2AFC staircase; regional ID using taste solutions, 4AFC | Children with autism were less able to identify sour taste compared with controls. Detection thresholds were not different between groups. |
| Benign migratory glossitis | Vieira et al. 2011 | Patients (n = 20); controls (n = 20) | 8–18 | Sucrose (3); sodium chloride (3); citric acid (3); quinine hydrochloride (3) | ID using Taste Strips, 5AFC | No differences were found between patients and controls regarding identifying taste stimuli. |
| Cancer Chemotherapy | Skolin et al. 2006 | Patients (n = 10); controls (n = 10) | 11–17 | Sucrose (9); sodium chloride (9); citric acid (9); quinine hydrochloride (9) | RT using taste solutions, 5AFC staircase | The taste test was performed between 2 chemotherapy cycles, showing higher thresholds for bitter taste among patients. Also, patients made more taste recognition errors compared with controls. |
| Cancer BMT |
Cohen et al. 2012 | Patients (n = 10) | 8–15 | Sucrose (5); sodium chloride (5); citric acid (5); quinine hydrochloride (5) | ID using taste solutions, 3AFC | Taste tests were performed at baseline and after BMT (1-month, 2-month follow-up). Taste dysfunction was found among one-third of the patients 1 month after BMT, but taste function was normalized 2 months after BMT for all patients. |
| Cancer HSCT |
Majorana et al. 2015 | Patients (n = 51) | 3–12 | Sucrose (4); sodium chloride (4); citric acid (4); quinine hydrochloride (4) | ID using taste solutions, 5AFC | Taste tests were performed before, during, and after HSCT. During HSCT, threshold value means increased for the 4 stimuli. Six months after HSCT, taste function was normalized. |
| Cancer Chemotherapy |
van den Brink et al. 2021 | Patients (n = 31); controls (n = 24) |
6–18 | Sucrose (4); sodium chloride (4); citric acid (4); quinine hydrochloride (4) | ID using Taste Strips, 5AFC | Taste tests were performed before and after a cycle chemotherapy, showing higher sweet, bitter, and total taste scores after a cycle of chemotherapy compared with before the start of that cycle. When compared with controls, patients had a higher sour taste score. |
| Cystic fibrosis | Laing et al. 2010 | Patients (n = 42); controls (n = 42) | 5–18 | Sucrose (5); sodium chloride (5); citric acid (5); quinine hydrochloride (5) | ID using taste solutions, 3AFC | No significant differences in taste function were found between children with cystic fibrosis and controls. |
| Diabetes mellitus type I | Mameli et al. 2019a | Patients (n = 31); controls (n = 31) | 6–15 | Sucrose (4); sodium chloride (4); citric acid (4); quinine hydrochloride (4) | ID using Taste Strips, 5AFC | Children with diabetes had lower bitter, sour, and total taste scores compared with controls. |
| Kidney disease | Armstrong et al. 2010 | CKD 2 (n = 12); CKD 3–5 (n = 20); clinical controls (n = 20); healthy controls (n = 20) | 5–19 | Sucrose (5); sodium chloride (5); citric acid (5); quinine hydrochloride (5) | ID using taste solutions, 3AFC | The ability to identify tastants by children with CKD diminishes as the eGFR decreases. This was observed for sweet and bitter taste and, to a lesser extent, for sour. |
| Kidney disease | Correa et al. 2015 | CKD 3–5 (n = 12); clinical controls (n = 12) | 5–18 | Sucrose (5); sodium chloride (5); citric acid (5); quinine hydrochloride (5) | ID using taste solutions, 3AFC | Taste loss was more prevalent in children with CKD than in clinical controls. |
| Macroglossia Tongue reduction |
Maas et al. 2016 | Patients (n = 10) | 5–18 | Sucrose (4); sodium chloride (4); citric acid (4); quinine hydrochloride (4) | Regional ID using taste solutions, 5AFC | Taste was perceived on the different regions of the tongue, although not always correctly identified. Anterior tongue resection has no long-term consequences for taste function. |
| Obesity | Obrebowski et al. 2000 | Obese (n = 30) | 10–16 | NA | DT using EGM | 47–77% of the children with obesity have detection thresholds below the limit of normal range, depending on the electrode used. |
| Obesity | Pasquet et al. 2007 | Obese (n = 39), controls (n = 48) | 11–17 | Sucrose (10); fructose (10); sodium chloride (12), citric acid (7) | RT using taste solutions, 5AFC staircase | Children with obesity had a higher sensitivity (lower RT) to sucrose and sodium chloride than controls. |
| Obesity | Overberg et al. 2012 | Obese (n = 99); controls (n = 94) | 6–18 | Sucrose (4); sodium chloride (4); citric acid (4); quinine hydrochloride (4); MSG (4) | ID using Taste Strips, 6AFC | Children with obesity showed a lower ability in correctly identifying salty, umami, and bitter taste, resulting in lower total taste scores compared with controls. |
| Obesity Lifestyle intervention |
Sauer et al. 2017 | Obese (n = 60); controls (n = 27) | 9–17 | Sucrose (4); sodium chloride (4); citric acid (4); quinine hydrochloride (4) | ID using Taste Strips, 5AFC | Before lifestyle intervention, children with obesity had a lower sour and total taste score compared with controls. After intervention, sour taste scores improved whereas sweet taste scores deteriorated. |
| Obesity | Mameli et al. 2019b | Obese (n = 34); controls (n = 33) | 6–14 | Sucrose (4); sodium chloride (4); citric acid (4); quinine hydrochloride (4) | ID using Taste Strips, 5AFC | Children with obesity showed a lower ability in correctly identifying sweet, sour, and bitter taste, resulting in lower total taste scores compared with controls. |
| Obesity | Herz et al. 2020 | Overweight/obese (n = 27); controls (n = 26) | 12–16 | Sucrose (4); sodium chloride (4); citric acid (4); quinine hydrochloride (4) | ID using Taste Strips, 5AFC | No significant differences in taste function were found between adolescents with overweight/obesity and controls. |
| Obesity Lifestyle intervention |
Kalveram et al. 2021 | Obese (n = 102) | 6–18 | Sucrose (4); sodium chloride (4); citric acid (4); quinine hydrochloride (4); MSG (4) | ID using Taste Strips, 6AFC | Children with obesity identified sweet taste better compared with other taste stimuli. Total taste score, but also scores for bitter and umami, increased after lifestyle intervention. |
| Otitis media | Shin et al. 2011 | Patients (n = 42); controls (n = 42) | 3–7 | Sucrose (4); sodium chloride (4); citric acid (4); quinine hydrochloride (4) | DT using EGM; ID using taste solutions | Patients showed higher thresholds for sweet and salty, but also higher thresholds on the anterior tongue (EGM), compared with controls. |
| Otology Otologic surgergy |
Leung et al. 2009 | Patients (n = 99); controls (n = 61) | 4–18 | NA | DT using EGM | Taste dysfunction after otologic surgery range between 5% and 50%, depending on the type of surgery, compared with 9% in controls. |
| Tonsillitis | Hill et al. 2017 | Patients (n = 64); controls (n = 80) | 6–17 | Sucrose (4); sodium chloride (4); citric acid (4); quinine hydrochloride (4) | ID using Taste Strips, 5AFC | Scores for individual taste qualities and total taste were not different between patients and controls. |
Abbreviations: BMI, body mass index; BMT, blood and marrow transplantation; CKD, chronic kidney disease; DT, detection threshold; eGFR, estimated glomerular filtration rate; EGM, electrogustometry; HSCT, hematopoietic stem cell transplantation; ID, taste identification; MSG, monosodium glutamate; NA, not applicable; RT, recognition threshold; 3AFC, three-alternative forced-choice; 4AFC, four-alternative forced-choice; 5AFC, five-alternative forced-choice; 6AFC, six-alternative forced-choice.