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Changes in taste and smell of food during prostate cancer treatment

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Abstract

Purpose

The present study examined the prevalence of changes in the taste and smell of food among men with advanced prostate cancer who were receiving hormone therapy and/or chemotherapy.

Method

Participants were 75 men with advanced prostate cancer treated at an academic medical center. They completed a prospective survey about nausea while eating, taste and smell of food, and appetite periodically during a mean of 1.3 years of follow-up. Demographics, treatments, and weight data were extracted from electronic health records. Logistic regression analyses were used to examine the associations between the presence of the symptoms surveyed, treatments, and weight loss of ≥10%.

Results

Participants experienced poor taste of food (17%) and poor smell of food (8%) during the study. Nausea was associated with an increased likelihood of experiencing poor taste (50.0% v 12.3%, OR=7.13, P=.008) and smell (30.0% v 4.6%, OR=8.86, P=.016) of food. Poor taste of food was associated with an increased likelihood of experiencing poor appetite (35.0% v 10.9%, OR=12.43, P<.001). Participants were more likely to experience poor taste of food at any point in the study if they were being treated with denosumab (35.0% v 10.9%, OR=4.40, P=.020) or docetaxel (41.7% v 12.7%, OR=4.91, P=.022). Participants were more likely to experience ≥10% weight loss if experiencing poor taste of food (38.4% v 8.6%, OR=6.63, P=.010) or poor appetite (60.0% v 6.6%, OR=21.38, P<.001).

Conclusion

Clinicians should query patients for changes in taste and smell of food, especially if they are experiencing weight loss.

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Availability of data and material

Not applicable.

Code availability

Analyses were conducted using SPSS 26.0 (IBM).

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Loyola University New Orleans, New Orleans, LA, 70118, USA

    Sarah Alonzi

  2. Departments of Psychology, Psychiatry, and Medicine (Oncology), and Tulane Cancer Center, Tulane University, 6400 Freret Street, 2007 Percival Stern Hall, New Orleans, LA, 70118, USA

    Michael Hoerger

  3. Department of Palliative Medicine & Supportive Care, University Medical Center of New Orleans, New Orleans, LA, 70112, USA

    Michael Hoerger

  4. Department of Psychology, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA, 70118, USA

    Laura M. Perry

  5. Department of Internal Medicine, Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, 90033, USA

    Lydia D. Chow

  6. Tulane Cancer Center, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA, 70112, USA

    Charlotte Manogue, Patrick Cotogno & Elisa M. Ledet

  7. Tufts University School of Medicine, 145 Harrison Ave, Boston, MA, 02111, USA

    Emma M. Ernst

  8. Departments of Medicine and Urology, and Tulane Cancer Center, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA, 70112, USA

    Oliver Sartor

Authors
  1. Sarah Alonzi
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  2. Michael Hoerger
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  3. Laura M. Perry
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  4. Lydia D. Chow
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  5. Charlotte Manogue
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  6. Patrick Cotogno
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  7. Emma M. Ernst
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  8. Elisa M. Ledet
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  9. Oliver Sartor
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception, design, or manuscript writing. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Michael Hoerger.

Ethics declarations

Ethics approval

This study was approved by the Tulane University Internal Review Board (IRB #758052).

Consent to participate

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Not applicable.

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

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Alonzi, S., Hoerger, M., Perry, L.M. et al. Changes in taste and smell of food during prostate cancer treatment. Support Care Cancer 29, 2807–2809 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-021-06050-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-021-06050-x

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