Value of Reduced Taste Recognition Ability in Early Warning of Mild Cognitive Impairment

Background There is no effective cure for Alzheimer's disease. Early identification of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and determination of its sensitive warning indicators are current research hotspots. Objective To explore the relationship between taste recognition decline and cognitive function, and to clarify the value of taste recognition decline in early recognition of MCI. Methods From July to August 2022, 30 older adults with MCI were recruited from a Nanjing community by convenience sampling method, and were compared to age-, sex-, and years of education-matched 32 healthy controls. The General Information Questionnaire, the Montreal Cognitive Assessment-Beijing Version (MoCA-Beijing), the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), the Activities of Daily Living (ADL), and the Clinical Dementia Rating (CDR) were used to assess demographics, cognitive function, status of activities of daily living, and severity of dementia, respectively. The taste function was examined by the whole mouth test. Correlation