Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2018 Jul;170(1):27-34.
doi: 10.1007/s10549-018-4720-3. Epub 2018 Feb 23.

Taste and smell perception and quality of life during and after systemic therapy for breast cancer

Y C de Vries  1   2 , S Boesveldt  1 , C S Kelfkens  1 , E E Posthuma  1 , M M G A van den Berg  1 , J Th C M de Kruif  3 , A Haringhuizen  4 , D W Sommeijer  5   6 , N Buist  7 , S Grosfeld  8 , C de Graaf  1 , H W M van Laarhoven  5 , E Kampman  1 , R M Winkels  9   10
Affiliations

Taste and smell perception and quality of life during and after systemic therapy for breast cancer

Y C de Vries et al. Breast Cancer Res Treat. 2018 Jul.

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of the study was to assess self-reported taste and smell perception after chemotherapy in breast cancer patients compared with women without cancer, and to assess whether taste and smell perception is associated with quality of life after the end of chemotherapy.

Methods: We included 135 newly diagnosed breast cancer patients who completed chemotherapy and 114 women without cancer. Questionnaires on taste, smell, and quality of life were completed shortly after and 6 months after chemotherapy (patients) or at two moments with 6 months' time window in between (comparisons).

Results: Self-reported taste and smell perception were significantly lower in patients shortly after chemotherapy compared to the comparison group. Most patients recovered 6 months after chemotherapy, although patients who were still receiving trastuzumab then reported a lower taste and smell perception compared to patients who were not. A lower self-reported taste and smell were statistically significantly associated with a worse quality of life, social, emotional, and role functioning shortly after chemotherapy. Six months after chemotherapy, taste and smell were statistically significantly associated with quality of life, social and role functioning, but only in patients receiving trastuzumab.

Conclusions: Most taste and smell alterations recovered within 6 months after the end of chemotherapy for breast cancer, but not for patients receiving trastuzumab. These results highlight the importance of monitoring taste and smell alterations during and after treatment with chemotherapy and trastuzumab, as they may impact quality of life.

Keywords: Breast cancer; Chemotherapy; Dysgeusia; Herceptin; Quality of life; Smell; Taste; Taste loss; Trastuzumab.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

Ethical approval

All procedures performed in the study described in this manuscript were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Flow chart of participants of the COBRA study, an observational multi-center study among breast cancer patients during chemotherapy and a comparison group of women without cancer of similar age
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Taste and smell scores (mean ± SD) of the AHSP questionnaire over time for the patient and comparison group. T1 represents the first measurement (comparison) and shortly after chemotherapy (patients), T2 represents 6 months after the first measurement (comparison) or ~ 6 months after the end of chemotherapy (patients). *indicates a significant difference at p < 0.05
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Global quality of life (a) and function scales (b social, c role, and d emotional functioning) of the EORTC-QLQ-C30 (mean ± SD) over time for the patient and comparison group. T1 represents the first measurement which for the patients was done shortly after chemotherapy; T2 is the second measurement, which took place ~ 6 months after the first measurement. *indicates a significant difference at p < 0.05
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Lindley C, McCune JS, Thomason TE, Lauder D, Sauls A, Adkins S, Sawyer WT. Perception of chemotherapy side effects: cancer versus noncancer patients. Cancer Pract. 1999;7(2):59–65. doi: 10.1046/j.1523-5394.1999.07205.x. - DOI - PubMed
    1. de Vries YC, Helmich E, Karsten MDA, Boesveldt S, Winkels RM, van Laarhoven HWM. The impact of chemosensory and food-related changes in patients with advanced oesophagogastric cancer treated with capecitabine and oxaliplatin: a qualitative study. Support Care Cancer. 2016;24(7):3119–3126. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Bernhardson BM, Tishelman C, Rutqvist LE. Chemosensory changes experienced by patients undergoing cancer chemotherapy: a qualitative interview study. J Pain Symptom Manag. 2007;34(4):403–412. doi: 10.1016/j.jpainsymman.2006.12.010. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Gamper EM, Giesinger JM, Oberguggenberger A, Kemmler G, Wintner LM, Gattringer K, Sperner-Unterweger B, Holzner B, Zabernigg A. Taste alterations in breast and gynaecological cancer patients receiving chemotherapy: prevalence, course of severity, and quality of life correlates. Acta Oncol. 2012;51(4):490–496. doi: 10.3109/0284186X.2011.633554. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Zabernigg A, Gamper EM, Giesinger JM, Rumpold G, Kemmler G, Gattringer K, Sperner-Unterweger B, Holzner B. Taste alterations in cancer patients receiving chemotherapy: a neglected side effect? Oncologist. 2010;15(8):913–920. doi: 10.1634/theoncologist.2009-0333. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources