engleski

Taste disorder in patients with multiple sclerosis

Introduction: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune disease that affects the brain and spinal cord. It is characterized with myelin sheath degradation causing nerve signals to slow down or even stop. Taste pathway can also be affected. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of taste disorders and make a qualitative analysis of taste disorders in patients with MS. Materials and methods: The study was conducted on 41 MS patients (F=25, M=16) and 40 control subjects (F=24, M=16). Respondents completed a questionnaire on subjective perception of taste sensation disorders. Commercial testers soaked in 4 basic flavors (sweet, salty, bitter, and sour) at 4 different concentrations (16 testers in total) were used for objective sensation testing (Taste Strips, Burghart Messtechnik GmbH, Germany). Results: Only 3 (7, 31%) of MS patients reported impaired taste sensation, but hypogeusia was detected in 12 (29, 27%) MS patients based on the use of taste strips. Of the total of 16 taste testers, MS patients and control subjects recognized 9.85±2.76 and 13.65±1.48 flavors (T=-7.686 ; P=0.0001), respectively. The most frequent misrecognition was of the salty taste. The recognition score was higher for the sour and bitter tastes, and the highest for the sweet taste. No patients had complete loss of taste sensation, but 6 MS patients did not recognize any bitter concentrations (bitter ageusia), 6 MS patients did not recognize any salty concentrations (salty ageusia), and 3 MS patients did not recognize any sour concentrations (sour ageusia). Conclusion: Patients with MS have a significantly impaired sense of taste. The salty taste is the most weakened, while the sweet taste is the least affected. Acknowledgements: This research was supported by the University of Rijeka under the project number uniri-biomed-18- 65.

taste disorders ; multiple sclerosis

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