TasTY: Development and evaluation of a taste test for quantifying taste sensitivity among preschool children-test-retest reliability, application, and comparison between children with and without prior SARS-CoV-2 infection.
- 1University Children's Hospital, St. Josef Hospital, Ruhr University Bochum, Bochum, Germany.
- 2Department of Anaesthesiology, Intensive Care and Pain Medicine, KLW St. Paulus GmbH St. Marien Hospital Lünen, Lünen, Germany.
- 3University Children's Hospital, St. Josef Hospital, Ruhr University Bochum, Bochum, Germany. [email protected].
Abstract
Taste dysfunction gained attention during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic; however, validated objective tests for preschool children remain limited. We aimed to develop a feasible, reliable test quantifying taste sensitivity among children aged 3-6 years and to compare performance between children with and without prior SARS-CoV-2 infection. We included 68 symptom-free children (median age 5.1 years; interquartile range (IQR) 3.9-5.9): 36 without known SARS-CoV-2 infection (control group, CG) and 32 with confirmed prior infection (SARS-CoV-2 infection group, C19-G), tested 79 days after infection (median; IQR 56-112). Children completed a self-developed Taste Test for Young Children (TasTY), a double-blind, playful two-alternative forced-choice test with 10 samples in randomized order (sweet, sour, and salty at three concentrations each; water served as a control). Twenty controls were retested a median of 62 days later (IQR 38-64). Outcomes were total score (0-10), feasibility, task comprehension, and test-retest reliability, assessed using the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC), standard error of measurement (SEM), and smallest real difference (SRD). Feasibility was high (3% dropout), and 89.4% correctly classified water. Total score test-retest reliability was good (ICC = 0.73; pooled SEM = 0.76; SRD = 2.11). Total scores were similar between CG and C19-G (8.37 ± 1.5 vs. 8.19 ± 1.5; p = 0.63). Descriptively, three-year-olds (n = 17) had lower, more variable scores.Conclusion
TasTY provides an age-appropriate, reliable, objective method for quantifying taste sensitivity among preschoolers, supporting standardized group comparisons and longitudinal assessment.What is known
• COVID-19 increased awareness of taste dysfunction; however, evidence among young children relies mainly on surveys and parental reports. • Objective taste tests for preschool children remain limited.What is new
• TasTY is a feasible, standardized, and objective test for quantifying taste sensitivity among children aged 3-6 years and goes beyond parental and subjective reports. • Its standardized 0-10 score showed good test-retest reliability and may support group comparisons and longitudinal assessment of preschool children with taste-related conditions.
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BibTeX
@article{weißenfeld2026tasty,
title = {{TasTY: Development and evaluation of a taste test for quantifying taste sensitivity among preschool children-test-retest reliability, application, and comparison between children with and without prior SARS-CoV-2 infection.}},
author = {Johannes Weißenfeld and Christoph Maier and Christine H Meyer-Frießem and Anna Teresa Hoffmann and Thomas Lücke and Anne Schlegtendal},
journal = {European journal of pediatrics},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1007/s00431-026-07534-w},
url = {https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42894011},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - TasTY: Development and evaluation of a taste test for quantifying taste sensitivity among preschool children-test-retest reliability, application, and comparison between children with and without prior SARS-CoV-2 infection.
AU - Johannes Weißenfeld
AU - Christoph Maier
AU - Christine H Meyer-Frießem
AU - Anna Teresa Hoffmann
AU - Thomas Lücke
AU - Anne Schlegtendal
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/19
JO - European journal of pediatrics
DO - 10.1007/s00431-026-07534-w
UR - https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42894011
AB - Taste dysfunction gained attention during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic; however, validated objective tests for preschool children remain limited. We aimed to develop a feasible, reliable test quantifying taste sensitivity among children aged 3-6 years and to compare performance between children with and without prior SARS-CoV-2 infection. We included 68 symptom-free children (median age 5.1 years; interquartile range (IQR) 3.9-5.9): 36 without known SARS-CoV-2 infection (control group, CG) and 32 with confirmed prior infection (SARS-CoV-2 infection group, C19-G), tested 79 days after infection (median; IQR 56-112). Children completed a self-developed Taste Test for Young Children (TasTY), a double-blind, playful two-alternative forced-choice test with 10 samples in randomized order (sweet, sour, and salty at three concentrations each; water served as a control). Twenty controls were retested a median of 62 days later (IQR 38-64). Outcomes were total score (0-10), feasibility, task comprehension, and test-retest reliability, assessed using the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC), standard error of measurement (SEM), and smallest real difference (SRD). Feasibility was high (3% dropout), and 89.4% correctly classified water. Total score test-retest reliability was good (ICC = 0.73; pooled SEM = 0.76; SRD = 2.11). Total scores were similar between CG and C19-G (8.37 ± 1.5 vs. 8.19 ± 1.5; p = 0.63). Descriptively, three-year-olds (n = 17) had lower, more variable scores.Conclusion TasTY provides an age-appropriate, reliable, objective method for quantifying taste sensitivity among preschoolers, supporting standardized group comparisons and longitudinal assessment.What is known • COVID-19 increased awareness of taste dysfunction; however, evidence among young children relies mainly on surveys and parental reports. • Objective taste tests for preschool children remain limited.What is new • TasTY is a feasible, standardized, and objective test for quantifying taste sensitivity among children aged 3-6 years and goes beyond parental and subjective reports. • Its standardized 0-10 score showed good test-retest reliability and may support group comparisons and longitudinal assessment of preschool children with taste-related conditions.
SN - 0340-6199
SN - 1432-1076
ER -