Taste disorders in Australian Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal children
D G Laing1, F J Wilkes, N Underwood
1Faculty of Medicine, School of Women's and Children's Health, University of New South Wales and Sydney Children's Hospital, Sydney, Australia. d.laing@unsw.edu.au
Aim:
To assess the prevalence and type of taste disorders in Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal children matched for age, gender and living in the same general and educational environment.
Methods:
Taste function was assessed in 432 Aboriginal (n = 166) and non-Aboriginal (n = 266) children aged 8-12 years from six public schools in a rural township using a three-choice taste identification test and a cross-sectional design.
Results:
The prevalence of taste disorders was very high and significantly more common in Aboriginal (20/166; 12.0%) than in non-Aboriginal (21/266; 7.9%) children. Forty-one children had quality-specific disorders, of whom 27 (65.9%) had sweet disorders. Children often had more than one quality disorder.
Conclusion:
The prevalence of taste disorders in children was high and exceeded the level (4%) designated by the World Health Organisation as requiring immediate action by health authorities. As the cause of the disorders is unknown, there is a need for a wider investigation of the causes and the consequences.
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