Objective:
To evaluate whether glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonist (GLP-1 RA) use is associated with incident smell and taste disturbances in patients with type 2 diabetes.
Approach:
- Study Design: Retrospective cohort study analyzing electronic health records from the TriNetX Global Collaborative Network.
- Participants: Included 438,474 patients prescribed GLP-1 RAs and 438,474 matched controls prescribed other antidiabetic medications.
- Outcome Assessment: Outcomes assessed from 3 months to 2 years post-prescription, focusing on new-onset smell or taste disturbances identified through diagnostic codes.
Key Findings:
- 1,615 patients receiving GLP-1 RAs (0.37%) documented smell and taste disturbances compared to 960 controls (0.22%).
- Absolute risk increase of 0.15%, equating to approximately 1.5 additional cases per 1,000 treated patients.
- GLP-1 RA use associated with a 48% higher hazard of documented smell or taste disturbance.
- Specific disturbances: anosmia (0.13% in GLP-1 RA vs 0.07% in controls), parosmia (0.05% vs 0.02%), and taste disturbances (0.18% vs 0.10%).
Interpretation:
Limitations:
- Observational design does not establish causality.
- Outcome identification relied on diagnostic coding rather than standardized testing.
- Potential for misclassification due to reliance on patient-reported symptoms.
- Residual confounding could not be excluded.
- Data on adherence, treatment duration, and medication dose were unavailable.
Conclusion:
Sources:
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