Characteristics of study participants according to smell and taste impairment status*
| Smell impairment | Taste impairment | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Characteristic | Yes (n=630) | No (n=2889) | p Value | Yes (n=540) | No (n=2574) | p Value |
| Age, years (mean±SE) | 65.0±0.6 | 56.7±0.2 | <0.001 | 55.9±0.6 | 57.8±0.3 | 0.01 |
| BMI, kg/m2 (mean±SE) | 29.5±0.4 | 29.5±0.2 | 0.91 | 29.6±0.5 | 29.6±0.2 | 0.99 |
| Men, % | 56.2 (3.1) | 46.4 (1.0) | 0.005 | 49.2 (1.6) | 48.5 (1.0) | 0.72 |
| Race/ethnicity, % | 0.005 | 0.04 | ||||
| Non-Hispanic White | 64.3 (3.6) | 72.3 (3.2) | 72.1 (3.9) | 72.9 (3.1) | ||
| Non-Hispanic Black | 14.1 (2.1) | 10.0 (1.4) | 13.5 (2.1) | 9.5 (1.4) | ||
| Mexican American | 7.7 (2.4) | 6.8 (1.6) | 5.9 (2.0) | 6.7 (1.5) | ||
| Other | 13.9 (1.2) | 10.9 (1.1) | 8.5 (1.4) | 10.9 (1.2) | ||
| Educational attainment | <0.001 | 0.29 | ||||
| <High school | 49.5 (2.7) | 35.4 (2.4) | 38.8 (3.0) | 35.1 (2.9) | ||
| Some college | 25.7 (2.3) | 31.3 (1.4) | 31.7 (2.2) | 31.0 (1.9) | ||
| College graduate or above | 24.8 (2.3) | 33.3 (2.3) | 29.5 (3.6) | 33.9 (2.3) | ||
| Physical activity, METs/week | <0.001 | 0.33 | ||||
| Tertile 1 | 40.9 (2.0) | 29.5 (1.4) | 29.7 (1.9) | 29.2 (1.3) | ||
| Tertile 2 | 32.1 (2.4) | 32.0 (1.0) | 36.7 (4.1) | 31.7 (1.1) | ||
| Tertile 3 | 27.0 (2.2) | 38.5 (1.5) | 33.6 (3.9) | 39.1 (1.9) | ||
| Ratio of family income to poverty, % | <0.001 | 0.20 | ||||
| <1.3 | 25.2 (2.4) | 19.1 (2.7) | 20.1 (2.7) | 18.0 (2.8) | ||
| 1.3–3.5 | 43.8 (1.8) | 32.8 (1.2) | 37.8 (2.5) | 33.7 (1.2) | ||
| >3.5 | 31.0 (3.0) | 48.0 (3.0) | 42.1 (3.0) | 48.2 (3.4) | ||
| Smoking status, % | 0.25 | 0.28 | ||||
| Never | 51.8 (2.8) | 53.7 (2.0) | 50.1 (3.4) | 53.6 (2.0) | ||
| Past | 33.8 (2.9) | 28.2 (1.3) | 28.6 (3.4) | 29.4 (1.3) | ||
| Current <10 cigarettes/day | 8.1 (1.0) | 9.7 (0.6) | 10.3 (1.6) | 9.1 (0.6) | ||
| Current 10–20 cigarettes/day | 2.0 (0.9) | 2.0 (0.2) | 3.0 (1.1) | 1.9 (0.3) | ||
| Current >20 cigarettes/day | 4.3 (1.6) | 6.4 (1.0) | 8.0 (1.5) | 6.0 (1.1) | ||
| Alcohol consumption (drinks/day) | <0.001 | 0.07 | ||||
| Non-drinkers | 49.4 (2.6) | 31.4 (2.1) | 31.2 (3.5) | 32.2 (2.2) | ||
| 1–3 drinks/day | 44.1 (2.3) | 59.1 (2.3) | 55.9 (3.5) | 58.9 (2.4) | ||
| ≥4 drinks/day | 6.5 (1.7) | 9.5 (0.8) | 12.9 (1.5) | 8.9 (0.8) | ||
| Depression symptom, % | 10.0 (2.0) | 9.1 (0.9) | 0.59 | 7.7 (1.0) | 9.0 (1.0) | 0.31 |
| Hypertension, % | 63.9 (2.4) | 46.4 (1.1) | <0.001 | 49.6 (2.3) | 47.5 (1.5) | 0.51 |
| Obesity, % | 37.9 (2.2) | 40.3 (1.5) | 0.36 | 42.7 (2.9) | 39.7 (1.6) | 0.31 |
| Diabetes, % | 21.2 (1.5) | 14.8 (1.0) | <0.001 | 15.7 (2.3) | 15.0 (1.0) | 0.75 |
| CVD, % | 24.4 (2.0) | 11.2 (0.7) | <0.001 | 12.7 (1.6) | 12.3 (0.8) | 0.79 |
| Asthma, % | 16.5 (2.0) | 13.9 (0.8) | 0.20 | 16.0 (2.1) | 13.8 (0.7) | 0.26 |
| Cancer, % | 23.9 (2.1) | 14.8 (0.6) | <0.001 | 12.7 (1.9) | 16.6 (1.0) | 0.16 |
| Pesticide use, % | 18.1 (1.6) | 18.4 (1.0) | 0.90 | 16.3 (1.9) | 18.6 (0.9) | 0.26 |
| Self-report taste problem, % | 10.7 (1.6) | 4.1 (0.4) | <0.001 | 3.8 (1.1) | 4.7 (0.6) | 0.55 |
| Self-report smell problem, % | 19.5 (2.2) | 6.1 (0.9) | <0.001 | 8.9 (1.3) | 7.8 (0.9) | 0.36 |
| Frequent nasal congestion, % | 28.3 (2.0) | 31.4 (0.9) | 0.21 | 29.8 (2.8) | 31.2 (1.0) | 0.67 |
| Head injury, % | 15.0 (1.5) | 16.7 (1.0) | 0.25 | 17.4 (2.1) | 16.9 (1.2) | 0.84 |
| Tonsillectomy, % | 34.9 (3.2) | 32.3 (1.3) | 0.41 | 32.0 (2.8) | 32.7 (1.3) | 0.80 |
| Broken nose or serious injury to face/skull, % | 18.1 (1.6) | 17.5 (1.4) | 0.78 | 18.9 (2.4) | 17.7 (1.4) | 0.51 |
There were 28 participants with missing values for BMI; 112–279 participants with missing values for hypertension, family income, pesticide use and depression symptom; 2–7 participants with missing values for self-reported taste problem, self-reported smell problem, frequent nasal congestion, head injury and broken nose or serious injury to face/skull.
*Data are mean±SE, or % (SE).
BMI, body mass index; CVD, cardiovascular disease.