Objective: The aim of the study is to evaluate the gustatory functions in patients with laryngopharyngeal reflux (LPR).
Methods: The study population consisted of the control and the reflux groups. There were 50 patients in each group. Reflux symptom index and reflux symptom scoring system were used in the diagnosis of reflux group. These two groups were subjected to taste test described by Goins et al., and taste test was applied separately to the back, middle and anterior parts of the tongue and the results were compared.
Results: When the demographic characteristics of the groups were compared, there was no statistical difference in terms of sex, age and smoking habit. In our study, we found a statistically significant decrease in the perception of bitterness, sourness and salty taste at the back, mid- dle and 1/3 anterior part of the tongue in the LPR group when com- pared to the control group. There was no significant difference between groups in terms of sweet taste.
Conclusion: While laryngopharyngeal reflux disease affect negatively the salty, bitter and sour taste functions, we found the sweet taste as the most resistant taste to LPR. Histopathological examination in animal experiments may be useful in order to prove the hypothesis concerning loss of taste caused by LPR.