An Empirical Cross-Sectional Study to Identify the Olfactory and Gustatory Effects of SARS-CoV-2 – A Social Analysis (original) (raw)
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Evolution of Altered Sense of Smell or Taste in Patients With Mildly Symptomatic COVID-19
JAMA Otolaryngology–Head & Neck Surgery
, a pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has spread rapidly from Wuhan, Hubei Province, China, to all over the world. 1 As of April 20, 2020, SARS-CoV-2 has been responsible for 2 414 595 infections and 165 174 deaths worldwide, with Italy accounting for 178 972 cases and 23 660 deaths. 2 The clinical spectrum of COVID-19 ranges from an asymptomatic or mild flu-like illness to a severe pneumonia and systemic disease requiring critical care. Main symptoms are fever, dry or productive cough, and dyspnea. 3 Human strains of coronavirus have been demonstrated to invade the central nervous system through the olfactory neu-roepithelium and propagate from within the olfactory bulb. 4 Furthermore, nasal epithelial cells display the highest expression of the SARS-CoV-2 receptor, angiotensin converting enzyme 2, in the respiratory tree. 5 Smell impairment was first observed among other neurologic manifestations of COVID-19 in hospitalized patients, 6 and subsequently has been reported to be a common symptom reported in patients with mild disease. 7,8 Recently, we reported the prevalence of altered smell or taste to be 64% among a case series of 202 mildly symptomatic home-isolated patients with confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection. 8 The aim of this study was to evaluate the evolu-IMPORTANCE An altered sense of smell and taste has been reported to be associated with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). To understand the evolution of these symptoms during the course of the disease is important to identify patients with persistent loss of smell or taste and estimate the impact of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection on the burden of olfactory and gustative dysfunctions. OBJECTIVE To evaluate the evolution of the loss of sense of smell and taste in a case series of mildly symptomatic patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS This cross-sectional survey-based study included 202 mildly symptomatic adults (Ն18 years) consecutively assessed at Treviso Regional Hospital, Italy, between March 19 and March 22, 2020, who tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 RNA by polymerase chain reaction on nasopharyngeal and throat swabs. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES Prevalence of altered sense of smell and taste at follow-up and their variation from baseline. RESULTS Of 202 patients completing the survey at baseline, 187 (92.6%) also completed the follow-up survey (103 [55.1%] women; median age, 56 years). The evaluation of the evolution of altered sense of smell or taste in the 113 patients reporting sudden onset of these symptoms at baseline showed that 55 patients (48.7%; 95% CI, 39.2-58.3) reported complete resolution of smell or taste impairment, 46 (40.7%; 95% CI, 31.6-50.4) reported an improvement in the severity, and only 12 (10.6%; 95% CI, 5.6-17.8) reported the symptom was unchanged or worse. Persistent loss of smell or taste was not associated with persistent SARS-CoV-2 infection. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE At 4 weeks from the onset, 89% of the SARS-CoV-2-positive mildly symptomatic patients who had had a sudden onset of altered sense of smell or taste experienced a complete resolution or improvement of these symptoms. Persistent loss of smell or taste was not associated with persistent SARS-CoV-2 infection.
Olfactory and Gustatory Dysfunction in Patients with COVID-19
2023
Introduction: Infection with the new coronavirus [severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)] was first registered in December 2019 in China and then later spread rapidly to the rest of the world. On 31 st December 2019, the World Health Organization on 11 th March 2020 declared a pandemic with this virus. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, the first infected person was registered on 5 th March 2020 in Banja Luka. Aim: To present some aspects of the olfactory and gustatory dysfunction in patients with the coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVID-19). Methods: The article has an analytical character and review of the literature. Results and Discussion: Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has a high similarity with SARS-CoV-1 and uses the same receptors to enter the human body [angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2)]. 2 COVID-19 is a respiratory infection that is primarily transmitted via respiratory droplets. In the first year of the pandemic, the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus has mutated several times, resulting in genetically different variants. The variants are named by using letters of the Greek alphabet. The Alpha variant (Wuhan, China), Beta variant (first outbreak in South Africa), the Gamma variant (first outbreak in Brazil), and the Delta variants (first outbreak in India and Omicron variant) have caused an increase in cases worldwide. Typical symptoms of COVID-19 infection can be very moderate to very severe, with severe respiratory symptoms and fatal outcomes. COVID-19 is primarily a disease of the respiratory system, but SARS-CoV-2 also penetrates the central nervous system (CNS) and apparently could be responsible for fatal outcomes in some cases. The entry of the virus into the brain can lead to different neurological and psychiatric manifestations, including headache, loss of smell (anosmia) and the loss of taste (ageusia), encephalopathy, encephalitis, paresthesia, myalgia, Guillain-Barre syndrome, and cerebrovascular diseases. Conclusion: The coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVID-19) is primarily a disease of the respiratory system, but SARS-CoV-2 also penetrates the CNS, leading to serious neurological disorders, and apparently, it is also responsible for mortality. The frequency of anosmia and ageusia in patients with COVID-19 varies widely, from 10 to 65%, being the primary symptom in about 12% of patients. Most of the analyzed subjects reported olfactory recovery. However, anosmia and ageusia can last several months or even longer. For now, the etiopathogenesis of anosmia and ageusia in SARS-CoV-2 infection is still unknown. Nasal or systemic corticosteroids were recommended in the acute phase as well as olfactory training (sniffing the smell of rose, lemon, and cloves) in the acute and chronic phases, and many other drugs as potential therapeutics.
Self-reported smell and taste alteration as the sole clinical manifestation of SARS-CoV-2 infection
Oral Surgery, Oral Medicine, Oral Pathology and Oral Radiology, 2021
Elsevier has created a COVID-19 resource centre with free information in English and Mandarin on the novel coronavirus COVID-19. The COVID-19 resource centre is hosted on Elsevier Connect, the company's public news and information website. Elsevier hereby grants permission to make all its COVID-19-related research that is available on the COVID-19 resource centre-including this research content-immediately available in PubMed Central and other publicly funded repositories, such as the WHO COVID database with rights for unrestricted research re-use and analyses in any form or by any means with acknowledgement of the original source. These permissions are granted for free by Elsevier for as long as the COVID-19 resource centre remains active.
More Than Smell-COVID-19 Is Associated With Severe Impairment of Smell, Taste, and Chemesthesis
Chemical Senses, 2020
Recent anecdotal and scientific reports have provided evidence of a link between COVID-19 and chemosensory impairments, such as anosmia. However, these reports have downplayed or failed to distinguish potential effects on taste, ignored chemesthesis, and generally lacked quantitative measurements. Here, we report the development, implementation, and initial results of a multilingual, international questionnaire to assess self-reported quantity and quality of perception in 3 distinct chemosensory modalities (smell, taste, and chemesthesis) before and during COVID-19. In the first 11 days after questionnaire launch, 4039 participants (2913 women, 1118 men, and 8 others, aged 19–79) reported a COVID-19 diagnosis either via laboratory tests or clinical assessment. Importantly, smell, taste, and chemesthetic function were each significantly reduced compared to their status before the disease. Difference scores (maximum possible change ±100) revealed a mean reduction of smell (−79.7 ± 28.7, mean ± standard deviation), taste (−69.0 ± 32.6), and chemesthetic (−37.3 ± 36.2) function during COVID-19. Qualitative changes in olfactory ability (parosmia and phantosmia) were relatively rare and correlated with smell loss. Importantly, perceived nasal obstruction did not account for smell loss. Furthermore, chemosensory impairments were similar between participants in the laboratory test and clinical assessment groups. These results show that COVID-19-associated chemosensory impairment is not limited to smell but also affects taste and chemesthesis. The multimodal impact of COVID-19 and the lack of perceived nasal obstruction suggest that severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus strain 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection may disrupt sensory-neural mechanisms.
Acta Otorhinolaryngologica Italica, 2022
Only a few studies have assessed smell and taste in Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients with psychophysical tests, while the majority performed self-rating evaluations. Given the heterogeneity of the published literature, the aim of this review was to systematically analyse the articles on this topic with a focus on psychophysical testing. A search on PubMed and Web of Science from December 2019, to November 2021, with cross-references, was executed. The main eligibility criteria were English-language articles, investigating the clinical features of olfaction and gustation in COVID-19 patients using self-rating assessment, psychophysical testing and imaging techniques. A total of 638 articles were identified and 66 were included. Self-rating assessment was performed in 31 studies, while psychophysical testing in 30 and imaging techniques in 5. The prevalence of chemosensory dysfunction was the most investigated topic, followed by the recovery time. About the psychophysical assessment, the extended version of the Sniffin' Sticks was used in 11 articles and the Connecticut Chemosensory Clinical Research Center test in another 11. The olfactory threshold performance was the most impacted compared to the discrimination and identification capacities in accordance with the hypothesis of a tropism of SARS-CoV-2 for the olfactory mucosa. The timing significantly influenced the results of the psychophysical testing with 20% of patients presenting olfactory dysfunction at one month after infection.
Asian Pacific Journal of Allergy and Immunology
During the initial pandemic wave of COVID-19, apart from common presenting symptoms (cough, fever, and fatigue), many countries have reported a sudden increase in the number of smell and taste dysfunction patients. Smell dysfunction has been reported in other viral infections (parainfluenza, rhinovirus, SARS, and others), but the incidence is much lower than SARS-CoV-2 infection. The pathophysiology of post-infectious olfactory loss was hypothesized that viruses may produce an inflammatory reaction of the nasal mucosa or damage the olfactory neuroepithelium directly. However, loss of smell could be presented in COVID-19 patients without other rhinologic symptoms or significant nasal inflammation. This review aims to provide a brief overview of recent evidence for epidemiology, pathological mechanisms for the smell, and taste dysfunction in SARS-CoV-2 infected patients. Furthermore, prognosis and treatments are reviewed with scanty evidence. We also discuss the possibility of using "smell and taste loss" as a screening tool for COVID-19 and treatment options in the post-SARS-CoV-2 infectious olfactory loss.
European Archives of Oto-Rhino-Laryngology
Introduction It is reported that coronavirus disease (COVID-19) can affect the sense of smell and taste of infected people. The pathobiology of this virus is still incompletely known, and it is therefore important to explore the impact of COVID-19 infections on olfactory and gustatory functions. We aimed to review current evidence on olfactory and gustatory dysfunctions caused by COVID-19. Methods This study was a narrative review performed in 2020 to investigate the olfactory and gustatory dysfunctions of the COVID-19. We searched eight keywords in six databases to determine the related documents on the main objective of the study. To discover studies meeting the inclusion criteria, the authors screened the titles and abstracts of the identified articles. The appropriate studies were included and their results were discussed to make the final selection. Results We have studied 24 current articles on the olfactory and gustatory dysfunctions due to COVID-19. A review of current studies has shown that we have a surge in the spread of olfactory and gustatory dysfunctions that happened during the epidemic of COVID-19 infection. Most studies (95.8%) have confirmed the symptoms of anosmia in patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection. A review of current studies showed that, in addition to anosmia, evidence of ageusia and dysgeusia (parageusia) was also seen in patients with COVID-19. Conclusion The results of our study support recent reports that SARS-CoV-2 may infect oral and nasal tissues and cause olfactory and gustatory dysfunctions. These findings may aid future research on the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of COVID-19 consequences.
The Egyptian Journal of Otolaryngology, 2022
Background The prevalence of olfactory/gustatory dysfunctions among hospitalized SARS-CoV-2-infected patients is highly variable between different studies, ranging from 5.6% in the Asian population to 86% in the European population. The study aimed to detect the prevalence and the recovery of olfactory/gustatory dysfunctions in hospitalized SARS-CoV-2-infected patients in an Egyptian tertiary care center. A total of 579 hospitalized patients were enrolled. Demographic data as well as upper respiratory tract symptoms including olfactory/gustatory dysfunctions and other risk factors were documented. Then the recovery of olfactory/gustatory dysfunctions after 6 months was followed up. Results 50.6% had olfactory/gustatory dysfunctions (24.2% had a total smell and taste loss). A logistic regression analysis revealed a statistical significance between olfactory/gustatory dysfunctions and female gender and presence. Most patients (88.4%) reported partial or complete recovery during the 6 ...