Abstracts - Association for Chemoreception Sciences

#P253 POSTER SESSION V:
CENTRAL OLFACTION; CHEMOSENSORY
PSYCHOPHYSICS & CLINICAL STUDIES
Intensity of Salt Taste and Hypertension
Mary E. Fischer 1 , Karen J. Cruickshanks 1 , Alex Pinto 1 ,
Barbara E. K. Klein 1 , Ronald Klein 1 , F. Javier Nieto 1 ,
James S. Pankow 2 , Derek J. Snyder 3
1
University of Wisconsin Madison, WI, USA, 2 University of
Minnesota Minneapolis, MN, USA, 3 Yale University New Haven,
CT, USA
Perceived intensity of the taste of salt and its’ relationship with
hypertension was investigated in the Beaver Dam Offspring
Study, a population-based cohort study of sensory loss and aging.
Intensity of taste sensation was measured using filter paper disks
and a generalized magnitude scale (gLMS) with a range of 0 to
100. Study subjects were participants who provided information
on hypertension history and who used the full range of the gLMS
in practice. Hypertension was defined as either a systolic pressure
of >140 mmHg, a diastolic pressure of > 90 mmHg, or reported
blood pressure medication use. Covariates included age, gender,
education, smoking, and obesity (Body Mass Index >30.0 kg/m 2 ).
There were 1753 study subjects (mean age=49.6, range=21-84
years) of whom 662 (38%) were hypertensive. The unadjusted
mean salt intensity score did not differ between hypertensives
(mean=29.3, standard deviation(s.d.)=19.5) and normotensives
(mean=29.2, s.d.=19.2). After adjustment for age and gender, the
odds of hypertension in participants rating the intensity as very
strong or greater (> 53) were not significantly higher than the
odds in participants rating the intensity as less than moderate
(