Towards universal chemosensory testing: needs, barriers, and opportunities

Millions of people in the United States experience a reduced or distorted ability to smell or taste. Chemosensory disorders such as anosmia (the inability to smell), parosmia (distorted smell), or dysgeusia (altered taste) have major impacts on health and quality of life including difficulty sensing dangers such as fire or spoilage, a diminished palatability of food and drink that can negatively influence diet and nutrition, feelings of social isolation, and an increased incidence of frailty, anxiety, and depression. Smell or taste dysfunction can also be symptoms of other health issues, including sinonasal disease, cancer, or neurodegenerative disease. Aging adults are disproportionately affected. However, smell and taste function are not regularly assessed as a part of routine healthcare despite their prevalence and impact. This is a lost opportunity, as early detection of a chemosensory disorder would enable patients to obtain needed validation, education and support for their health challenge, could direct both patient and provider to treatment options, and may suggest underlying health issues that should be addressed. To better understand the current barriers to including chemosensory testing as a regular component of health care and to identify opportunities to overcome those barriers, the conference "Towards Universal Chemosensory Testing" was convened on November 5-7, 2023, in Philadelphia, PA. This conference brought together scientists, clinicians, patients, and other experts to discuss these issues and identify collective ways to overcome barriers to testing. This white paper-which is focused primarily on the US healthcare system-is the result of those discussions.

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Publication Details

Journal
Chemical Senses
Published
2025-01-01
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1093/chemse/bjaf015
Citations
3
Primary Topic
Advanced Chemical Sensor Technologies
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
2.02

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article

Towards universal chemosensory testing: needs, barriers, and opportunities

Frank A. Franklin, Valerie B. Duffy, Julie A. Mennella, Jayant M. Pinto et al.
3 citations
Chemical Senses
Advanced Chemical Sensor Technologies
2.02
article

Towards universal chemosensory testing: needs, barriers, and opportunities

Frank A. Franklin, Valerie B. Duffy, Julie A. Mennella, Jayant M. Pinto, Linda A. Barlow, Patrice Hubert, Kai Zhao, Edmund A. Pribitkin, Pamela Dalton, Duncan Boak, Susan E. Coldwell, Valentina Parma, Marta Yanina Pepino, Mark W. Albers, Richard L. Doty, Paule V. Joseph, Howard J. Hoffman, John E. Hayes, Jeb M. Justice, Jennifer E. Douglas, Steven D. Munger, Joshua M. Levy, Christopher T. Simons, Katie Boateng, Marianna Obrist
article en
3 citations

Abstract

Millions of people in the United States experience a reduced or distorted ability to smell or taste. Chemosensory disorders such as anosmia (the inability to smell), parosmia (distorted smell), or dysgeusia (altered taste) have major impacts on health and quality of life including difficulty sensing dangers such as fire or spoilage, a diminished palatability of food and drink that can negatively influence diet and nutrition, feelings of social isolation, and an increased incidence of frailty, anxiety, and depression. Smell or taste dysfunction can also be symptoms of other health issues, including sinonasal disease, cancer, or neurodegenerative disease. Aging adults are disproportionately affected. However, smell and taste function are not regularly assessed as a part of routine healthcare despite their prevalence and impact. This is a lost opportunity, as early detection of a chemosensory disorder would enable patients to obtain needed validation, education and support for their health challenge, could direct both patient and provider to treatment options, and may suggest underlying health issues that should be addressed. To better understand the current barriers to including chemosensory testing as a regular component of health care and to identify opportunities to overcome those barriers, the conference "Towards Universal Chemosensory Testing" was convened on November 5-7, 2023, in Philadelphia, PA. This conference brought together scientists, clinicians, patients, and other experts to discuss these issues and identify collective ways to overcome barriers to testing. This white paper-which is focused primarily on the US healthcare system-is the result of those discussions.

Chemical SensesVol. 50
IE University (ES), National Institutes of Health (US), Pennsylvania State University (US), Harvard University (US), University of Connecticut (US), Thomas Jefferson University (US), University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (US), Illinois College (US), University of Washington (US), Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (US), Monell Chemical Senses Center (US), University of Florida (US), University of Chicago (US), Massachusetts General Hospital (US), Taste and Smell Clinic (US), National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (US), National Institutes of Health Clinical Center (US), Rocky Mountain MS Center (US), National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (US), Philadelphia Department of Public Health (US), University College London (GB), University of Virginia (US), University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus (US), The Ohio State University (US), Morehouse School of Medicine (US), University of Pennsylvania (US)
Sanofi, University of Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania State University, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, National Institutes of Health, National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders
Openalex Percentile: Top 14%
Advanced Chemical Sensor Technologies
2.02
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
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