Drug-Induced Taste Disorders

This article is based on a report appearing in the August 2003 issue of Prescrire International focusing on drug-induced taste disorders. Prescrire International is a French drug newsletter that is highly regarded due to both its independence from the pharmaceutical industry and its quality. Like Worst Pills, Best Pills News, it is among the small number of drug newsletters worldwide that meets the standards of the International Society of Drug Bulletins.

The technical terms used to described taste disorders are ageusia, an absence of taste, and dysgeusia, which means altered taste.

In 2001, the French adverse drug reaction reporting center published a review of 305 cases of drug-induced taste disorders that were reported between 1985 and 1997. The majority of reports (58 percent) involved women. Ages of patients ranged from 14 to 92 years, with an average of 54.4 years.

The angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors, most often used to treat high blood pressure, were involved in 14.7 percent of the French reports. Other widely used families of drugs cited were the calcium channel blockers, also frequently used for high blood pressure. These comprised 3.6 percent of reports and the erythromycin and erythromycin-like antibiotics also accounted for 3.6 percent of the total.

Prescrire International reported that the drug was stopped in 62.1 percent of the cases and the taste disorder failed to improve in 23.6 percent of the time.

A wide range of drugs can cause taste disorders. Taste disorders can adversely affect quality of life but more importantly in the elderly, who have poor appetites to begin with, it can further reduce their appetite.

The following table lists drugs implicated in drug-induced taste disorders. It was constructed from the Prescrire International report and updated from the Side Effects of Drugs Annual 25, and the FDA-approved professional product labeling for newer drugs marketed in the U.S.

What You Can Do

DO NOT stop taking any of the drugs listed in the table without first consulting your physician.

You should report any alteration in your sense of taste to your physician if you are taking a drug.