Abstract
Taste dysfunction, one of the complications seen in patients receiving hemodialysis, may be a serious hindrance to the control of diet therapy. Therefore, taste recognition thresholds for the primary tastes-sour, sweet, salty and bitter-were determined in 37 patients and compared with 26 control subjects. Mean taste thresholds for all these tastes were significantly impaired in dialysis patients when compared with the controls. Sweet, salty, sour and bitter tastes in the area innervated by the glossopharyngeal nerve in dialysis patients were less sensitive than those in the area innervated by the tympanichord. Many dialysis patients recognized salty as sour or sour as bitter, the so-called parageusia phenomenon. Mean plasma zinc concentration was 63.1±11.9, μg/dL, and the mean plasma retinol-binding protein (RBP) level was 12.4±1.7μg/dL. A weak positive correlation was found between the plasma zinc level and the plasma RBP level. Statistical analysis using log-linear models was applied for each of the taste thresholds by sex, smoking, dialysis and antihypertensive drugs and their interaction. Use of antihypertensive drugs such as angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitor, α-adrenergic blocking agent and β-adrenergic blocking agent may be implicated as one of the causes of reduced taste sensation.
