Investigation of nutritional status, taste-smell functions, and hedonic pleasure of recipients after liver transplantation.

Background: Taste and smell disorders have the potential to be associated with malnutrition and a loss of hedonic pleasure in liver transplantation recipients. Information regarding the deterioration of nutritional status in individuals with chronic liver disease is widely known, but changes following liver transplantation need to be investigated. Objective: This study aimed to investigate the nutritional status, taste and smell functions, and hedonic pleasure of liver transplant recipients. Method: The data for this descriptive and cross-sectional study were collected by researchers at an organ transplant hospital. The sample group consisted of Results: In this study, 62.9% of liver transplant recipients were moderately malnourished, 62.9% had severe hyposmia, and 74.2% had hypogeusia. There was an inverse correlation between the duration post-transplant and the severity of malnutrition, taste and smell disorders, and a direct correlation with perceived hedonic pleasure ( Conclusion: This study revealed that more than half of liver transplant recipients were moderately malnourished, with a similar proportion having severe hyposmia, and three-quarters had hypogeusia. The severity of malnutrition, along with taste and smell disorders, decreased with increasing post-transplant duration. Smell deficits increased with age. Strategies should be developed to improve malnutrition, taste, and smell disorders in liver transplant recipients, particularly the elderly and those in the early post-transplant period.