title: Quantitative evaluation of taste in childhood populations: a systematic review.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Taste is of great importance for the feeding process. Seen in this light, it is essential to investigate this sense in children as developing human beings. However, despite little variation in the use of tests that measure the gustatory capacity, there are still questions about the applicability and effective use of tools for quantitative assessment in children.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To search the literature on quantitative instruments used for the evaluation of taste used in studies with children.
  
  
  METHODS
  A search was conducted in the PUBMED and Web of Science platforms, and subsequently, the identified articles were selected and reviewed. The descriptors and terms used were "taste," "child," "assessment," "diagnosis," and "dysgeusia". Original articles related to the theme in English, restricted to children and with no year limitation, were selected. Studies conducted in other stages of human development, exclusively or concurrently with the pediatric population; animal studies; literature review articles; dissertations and book chapters; and case studies and editorials were excluded. The data analysis was performed through a cataloging protocol created for this study, including the following points: author, research department, year, location, population/sample, age, purpose of the study, methods, and primary results.
  
  
  RESULTS
  5613 items were found. 5307 were excluded based on title, 248 by abstract analysis, and 43 by full text evaluation. Fifteen articles were selected for analysis; of these, six were repeated articles, and thus nine articles were selected for review.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The tests aiming at evaluation of taste were judiciously used, ensuring reliability for future research, which may employ methods similar to previous studies.
authors.affiliation: Department of Human Communication Health, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco (UFPE), Recife, PE, Brazil; Department of Phonoaudiology, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte (UFRN), Natal, RN, Brazil. Electronic address: raissa_gfm@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Raissa Gomes Fonseca
authors.initials: RG
authors.lastname: Moura
authors.affiliation: Department of Nutrition, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco (UFPE), Recife, PE, Brazil; Department of Phonoaudiology, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco (UFPE), Recife, PE, Brazil.
authors.forename: Daniele Andrade
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Cunha
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco (UFPE), Recife, PE, Brazil; Instituto de Medicina Integral Professor Fernando Figueira (IMIP), Recife, PE, Brazil.
authors.forename: Ada Salvetti Cavalcanti
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Caldas
authors.affiliation: Department of Nutrition, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco (UFPE), Recife, PE, Brazil; Department of Phonoaudiology, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco (UFPE), Recife, PE, Brazil.
authors.forename: Hilton Justino da
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Silva
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D006801:Humans; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D013649:Taste / Q000502:physiology*
keywords: Avaliação; Child; Criança; Disgeusia; Dysgeusia; Evaluation; Paladar; Taste