Taste alterations in breast and gynaecological cancer patients receiving chemotherapy: prevalence, course of severity, and quality of life correlates

Abstract

Background: Taste alterations (TAs) are frequently reported by chemotherapy patients. However, research on this topic is very scarce. The etiologies of TAs are not fully known and prevalences may vary across tumour types and chemotherapy regimens. The aim of the present study was to longitudinally investigate TAs in patients with breast cancer or gynaecological cancers receiving chemotherapy, and to provide expected values for TAs for these patient populations.

Patients and methods: One hundred and nine cancer patients (32.1% gynaecological cancer, 67.9% breast cancer) receiving chemotherapy at the Department for Internal Medicine of Kufstein County Hospital were consecutively included in the study. At each visit the Quality of Life Questionnaire-Core30 and a screening scale for TAs, consisting of two validated questions taken from the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer item bank was administered. Statistical analysis was performed using mixed-effect models.

Results: The prevalence of TAs in breast cancer and gynaecological cancer patients receiving chemotherapy was high (76.1%). There were differences in the extent of TAs as well as in their time course across treatment groups. The lowest TAs were found in breast cancer and gynaecological cancer patients treated with gemcitabine. The highest TAs were found in breast cancer patients treated with epirubicin/docetaxel/capecitabine. The steepest increase of TAs was found in patients treated with epirubicin/docetaxel. Moreover, significant associations between TAs and appetite loss as well as fatigue were found.

Conclusion: The results show that TAs are an issue in breast and gynaecological cancer patients receiving different chemotherapy regimens. There is a need for a more systematic investigation of TAs in chemotherapy patients in general as well as the need to address this issue in clinical practice.