Clinical study of flavor disturbance

OBJECTIVE: We have observed that, in cases of smell loss, patients often complain of taste loss as well even though they actually have normal gustatory acuity according to gustatory tests; we have defined such symptoms as "flavor disturbance". The clinical features of flavor disturbance are reported in this paper. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A total of 297 patients (99 males, 198 females; mean age 55.5 years) were treated for olfactory disturbance at the hospital of Hyogo College of Medicine between July 1995 and August 2001. Sixty-six out of 297 patients (22.5%) also experienced taste disturbance, and 49 of these 66 cases were evaluated by means of smell and taste tests. These 49 patients who complained of taste and smell loss were classified into two groups according to the results of their smell and taste tests. Patients who only complained of olfactory disturbance were also reviewed. RESULTS: There was no relationship between the severity of olfactory disturbance and the degree of flavor disturbance. The incidence of flavor disturbance was high in patients with sudden olfactory disturbance after upper respiratory tract infection or head trauma and low in those with slowly progressive olfactory disturbance. The symptoms of flavor disturbance improved regardless of whether smell was improved or not. CONCLUSIONS: The patients with flavor disturbance tended to misrecognize that they had taste loss because of sudden smell loss, and there were more of these cases than we expected. When patients with smell and taste loss are treated, flavor disturbance should also be considered.