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The Taste and Smell Protocol in the 2011–2014 US National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES): Test–Retest Reliability and Validity Testing

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Chemosensory Perception

Abstract

Introduction

The US NHANES 2011–2014 protocol includes a taste and smell questionnaire (CSQ) in home-based interviews and brief assessments in mobile exam centers. We report the short- and longer-term test–retest reliability and validity of this protocol against broader chemosensory measures.

Methods

A convenience sample of 73 adults (age = 39.5 ± 20.8 years) underwent the NHANES protocol at baseline, 2 weeks and 6 months. For taste, participants rated intensities of two tastants (1 M NaCl, 1 mM quinine) applied to the tongue tip and three tastants (1 M NaCl, 1 mM quinine, 0.32 M NaCl) sampled with the whole mouth. Smell function was assessed with a Pocket Smell Test™ (PST; eight-item odor identification test). The CSQ asked about chemosensory problems, distortions, and age-related changes. Broader baseline measurements were a 40-item olfactometer-generated identification task and additional whole-mouth taste intensities (1 M sucrose, 32 mM citric acid, 3.2 mM propylthiouracil).

Results

Intraclass correlations (ICCs) for NHANES taste measures showed moderate-to-good agreement after 2 weeks and 6 months (ICCs 0.42–0.71). Whole-mouth quinine intensity was significantly correlated with other taste intensities, supporting its utility as a marker for overall taste functioning. Olfactory classification from PSTs agreed for 98.5 % of participants across 2 weeks (κ = 0.85; 95 % CI 0.71–0.99) and had good correspondence with the olfactometer task. CSQ items showed good-to-excellent agreement over 6 months (ICCs 0.66–0.90).

Conclusions

These findings further support that the NHANES chemosensory protocol has moderate-to-good test–retest reliability when administered to healthy, educated adults. Despite being a brief procedure with limited measures, the NHANES taste and smell assessments provided good information when compared to broader measures of taste and smell function.

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Acknowledgments

This research is supported by an Interagency Agreement (Y1-DC-0013) between the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD), National Institutes of Health (NIH), and the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

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Conflict of Interest

Shristi Rawal declares that she has no conflict of interest.

Howard J. Hoffman declares that he has no conflict of interest.

Mallory Honda declares that she has no conflict of interest.

Tania B. Huedo-Medina declares that she has no conflict of interest.

Valerie B. Duffy declares that she has no conflict of interest.

All procedures followed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation (institutional and national) and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2008. Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Correspondence to Valerie B. Duffy.

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Rawal, S., Hoffman, H.J., Honda, M. et al. The Taste and Smell Protocol in the 2011–2014 US National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES): Test–Retest Reliability and Validity Testing. Chem. Percept. 8, 138–148 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12078-015-9194-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12078-015-9194-7

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