title: Taste disorders in Australian Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal children.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To assess the prevalence and type of taste disorders in Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal children matched for age, gender and living in the same general and educational environment.
  
  
  METHODS
  Taste function was assessed in 432 Aboriginal (n = 166) and non-Aboriginal (n = 266) children aged 8-12 years from six public schools in a rural township using a three-choice taste identification test and a cross-sectional design.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The prevalence of taste disorders was very high and significantly more common in Aboriginal (20/166; 12.0%) than in non-Aboriginal (21/266; 7.9%) children. Forty-one children had quality-specific disorders, of whom 27 (65.9%) had sweet disorders. Children often had more than one quality disorder.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The prevalence of taste disorders in children was high and exceeded the level (4%) designated by the World Health Organisation as requiring immediate action by health authorities. As the cause of the disorders is unknown, there is a need for a wider investigation of the causes and the consequences.
authors: Faculty of Medicine, School of Women's and Children's Health, University of New South Wales and Sydney Children's Hospital, Sydney, Australia. d.laing@unsw.edu.au
authors: D G
authors: DG
authors: Laing
authors: F J
authors: FJ
authors: Wilkes
authors: N
authors: N
authors: Underwood
authors: L
authors: L
authors: Tran
mesh_terms: D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001315:Australia / Q000453:epidemiology; D002648:Child; D002669:Child Welfare; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006305:Health Status Indicators; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D015995:Prevalence; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012424:Rural Population / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D013651:Taste Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000473:pathology