Taste disturbance in patients with advanced cancer: a scoping review of clinical features and complications

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this scoping review is to appraise the published literature on taste disturbance in patients with advanced cancer, with the specific objectives being to determine its prevalence, clinical features and complications. Methods This scoping review was conducted using the recommended methodological framework. A detailed search of databases (Medline, Embase, CINAHL and PsycInfo) was conducted to identify eligible studies: eligible studies needed to include patients with advanced cancer and needed to include details of clinical features and/or complications of taste disturbance. Standard bibliographic/systematic review software was used to store the records and manage the review process, respectively. Results Twenty-five studies were identified from the database searches. The studies identified included eight physical and/or psychological symptom studies, six symptom cluster studies, five oral symptom studies and six taste and/or smell specific studies. Detailed data is presented on the clinical features and complications of taste disturbance and on the symptom clusters involving taste disturbance in this cohort of patients. Conclusion This scoping review identified a relatively small number of relevant studies involving a relatively small number of participants. Nevertheless, it confirms that taste disturbance is a common problem in patients with advanced cancer and is associated with significant morbidity because of the primary condition and the associated complications.

Taste and Smell Alterations (TSAs) in Cancer Patients

“…Taste and smell alterations are very disabling side effects in oncologic patients, impacting the daily lives of cancer patients [ 39 , 54 , 55 ]. Other studies demonstrate the fact that TSAs during chemotherapy have a strong impact on the daily life of patients; these studies hypothesize that these patients have a reduced quality of life, suffer weight loss and nutritional deficiencies, and obtain unfavorable therapeutic outcomes [ 33 , 42 , 43 , 44 , 56 , 57 , 58 ]. In the literature, focusing on oncological patients who underwent chemotherapy, the incidence of smell alterations has been reported to be between 16% and 49%, while taste alterations have been reported to be between 20% and 70% [ 31 , 48 ].…”