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Taste disorders may be drug related

Numerous drugs can cause taste disorders, which can lead to anorexia and a deterioration in a patient’s general condition.

Taste disorders, whose physiology is complex, are quantitative (inability to distinguish a taste) or qualitative (tastes alter). These disorders, which are hard to assess, sometimes lead to a total loss of appetite and a deterioration in a patient’s general condition.

There are many possible causes of taste loss, including acute respiratory infections, oral infections, metabolic disruption, kidney ailments, cancers and diseases of the central nervous system. Many drugs belonging to various families can also induce taste disorders, including drugs used to treat heart or endocrine system diseases and anti-infection drugs. In the case of some drugs, this adverse effect is well known (angiotensin-converting-enzyme inhibitors, terbinafine, D-penicillamine, antithyroid drugs and others). With others, taste disorders seem to be less frequent (e.g. clopidogrel, azithromycine).

Faced with a patient, especially an elderly person, who complains of a taste disorder, or who stops eating, the healthcare professional should ask whether it could be drug related and thus resolve the problem and avoid pointless further medical tests. In most cases, halting the treatment enables the patient to return to normal, but sometimes taste disorders persist.

©Prescrire March 2008

Source: "Troubles du goût d’origine médicamenteuse" Rev Prescrire 2008 ; 28 (293) : 191-194

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