Differences in taste perception in hyposmic patients compared to healthy controls

Carla Masala;Francesco Loy;Ilenia Pinna;Antonella Rosa

2022-01-01

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Abstract

Introduction: Olfactory deficits inhibit flavor perception and influences food intake. The aim of the study was to evaluate the role of hyposmia on the taste perception in patients compared to healthy controls. Materials and Methods: One hundred forty-eight subjects were enrolled, 57(35 women and 22 men) were hyposmic patients (mean age±SD, 35.7 ± 14.1) and 91 (62 women and 29 men) were healthy controls (mean age±SD, 31.4 ± 13.6). Among hyposmic subjects, 23 (40%) showed a post-acute Coronavirus (COVID-19) Syndrome. Olfactory function was assessed with the Sniffin’ Sticks Extended Test which evaluated odor Threshold (OT), Discrimination (OD), Identification (OI) and their sum Threshold-Discrimination-Identification (TDI) scores. Whereas gustatory function was evaluated using the Taste strips test with four concentrations for each modality: sweet, bitter, sour, and salty. Results: Hyposmic patients showed a significant decrease in the perception of salty, sweet, sour and in the total taste perception compared to controls, while no significant differences for bitter perception were found. Moreover, significant correlations were observed between TDI score versus salty (r=0.285, p<0.01), sweet (r=0.243, p<0.01), and sour perception (r=0.321, p<0.01). In order to confirm these correlations multivariate linear regression analyses were performed using TDI score as a dependent variable. Significant associations emerged between TDI score versus salty (p<0.01) and sour perception (p<0.01). This model explained 19% of variance (R2 = 0.188) for the salty and taste perception. In hyposmic subjects with a post-acute Coronavirus (COVID-19) Syndrome a significant decrease only in bitter perception (p<0.05) was observed. Conclusions: Patients with hyposmia reported alterations of salty and sour taste preference. In particular, patients reported lower perception of salty and sour compared to controls as consequence of the damage of flavor perception.