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Taste in mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer’s disease

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Abstract

In this prospective study we investigated the quantitative and qualitative taste function of patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and Alzheimer’s disease (AD). 29 healthy, elderly subjects, 29 MCI and 30 AD patients were tested using a validated taste test, the “taste strips”. Additionally, odor identification, odor discrimination, odor threshold, the mini-mental state examination (MMSE) and Apo E epsilon 4 status were examined. Regarding taste, there was a significant reduction of total taste scores and also the score for individual tastes on either side of the tongue between controls and MCI/AD patients. There was no significant difference in the taste scores between MCI and AD patients. A taste test may be a useful procedure for differentiating between healthy subjects and patients with MCI/AD in a clinical context. For diagnosing MCI versus AD, further tests such as smell test, MMSE, Apo E epsilon 4 status, FDG-PET and MRI appear to be useful.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Smell and Taste Clinic, Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Technical University, Fetscherstr. 74, 01307, Dresden, Germany

    Silke Steinbach & Thomas Zahnert

  2. Department of Clinical Radiology, Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich, Germany

    Walter Hundt

  3. Department of Nuclear Medicine, Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich, Germany

    Andreas Vaitl & Stefan Förster

  4. Department of Medical Statistics and Epidemiology, Institut für medizinische Statistik und Epidemiologie, Klinikum rechts der Isar, Technische Universitaet Muenchen, Munich, Germany

    Petra Heinrich

  5. Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich, Germany

    Katharina Bürger

Authors
  1. Silke Steinbach
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  2. Walter Hundt
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  3. Andreas Vaitl
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  4. Petra Heinrich
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  5. Stefan Förster
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  6. Katharina Bürger
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  7. Thomas Zahnert
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Correspondence to Silke Steinbach.

Additional information

S. Steinbach and W. Hundt have contributed equally to this work.

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Steinbach, S., Hundt, W., Vaitl, A. et al. Taste in mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer’s disease. J Neurol 257, 238–246 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00415-009-5300-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00415-009-5300-6

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