Validation of the clinical applicability of the brief self-administered waterless empirical taste test during the era of COVID-19.

Abstract

This study was performed to test the clinical applicability of a new taste test, the Brief Self-Administered Waterless Empirical Taste Test (B-WETT) in the era of COVID-19. Sixty healthy volunteers and 60 patients experiencing gustatory dysfunction were enrolled. All subjects received both the Self-Administered WETT and the new B-WETT which are comprised of disposable plastic strips containing sucrose, citric acid, sodium chloride, caffeine, and monosodium glutamate tastants to evaluate taste function. The healthy volunteers were re-tested with the WETT and B-WETT after an inter-test interval of at least 7 days to measure retest reliability. The sum scores of five tastants of the first test were 25.7 for males and 29.5 for females in WETT, and 12.4 for males and 15.2 for females in B-WETT. There were significant differences in the sum scores between males and females whether in WETT or B-WETT. The sum scores strongly correlated between WETT and B-WETT, whether in healthy volunteers or in patients with gustatory dysfunction (r >0.7). There was also a strong correlation between the first and second tests of B-WETT for the sum scores. This study shows that B-WETT is a valid and reliable taste test, and is convenient for use in the era of COVID-19 to evaluate the taste function of patients.