Abstract
Several studies performed in both adults and children with either chronic renal insufficiency (CRI) or end-stage renal disease (ESRD) receiving dialytic support have shown that these patients have abnormal taste acuity. Most of these abnormalities have been based on simple measurement of detection thresholds. The present studies examined taste and smell function in 10 CRI patients (mean creatinine 5.1 mg/dl), mean age 13.7 years; 9 ESRD patients, mean age 14.3 years; and 9 control subjects with chronic illness (C) (hospitalized child psychiatry patients) mean age 11.0 years. Two parameters of taste function were determined: 1) Intensity testing (IT) - perceived growth of intensity with increase in concentration; 2) Hedonic testing (HT) - relationship between concentration and perceived pleasantness. For IT and HT all subjects were given 5 concentrations each of NaCl (N), sucrose (S) and quinine hydrochloride (Q) in the suprathreshold range. The scaling technique utilized for IT was magnitude estimation with a tape measure and for HT was "smiley-face" scale. Data were analyzed by plotting standard psychophysical functions. Smell function was tested by UPSIT (Doty, RL: Univ. of Penn. Smell Identification Test), identification of 40 microencapsulated odors in "scratch and sniff" form. There were no differences between the 3 groups in IT; the slope of the line defined by magnitude estimation of the 5 concentrations of N, S, and Q was similar in the 3 groups. All renal patients and C patients had similar preferences and dislikes for the 5 concentrations of S and Q. However, renal patients had a substantially positive preference for higher concentrations of N compared to C patients. There were no significant differences between the 3 groups as to percent correct responses of the 40 odors in UPSIT. We conclude that patients with ESRD or CRI have normal IT, but seem to prefer N when compared to C patients. Also, ability to identify common odors is preserved in the two groups of renal patients.
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Shapera, M., Moel, D., Beauchamp, G. et al. CHEMOSENSORY FUNCTION IN CHILDREN WITH RENAL FAILURE. Pediatr Res 18 (Suppl 4), 366 (1984). https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-198404001-01637
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-198404001-01637