BACKGROUND: Olfactory and taste disorders were reported in up to 30%-80% of COVID-19 patients. The purpose of our study was to objectively assess smell impairment in COVID-19 patients and to correlate olfactory function with viral recovery. METHODS: Between 15 and 30 April 2020, hospitalized patients with confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection underwent an objective assessment of olfactory function with the Smell Identification subtest of the Sniffin' Sticks Test (SI-SST). Association between viral recovery and SI-SST performance was evaluated. RESULTS: 51 patients were enrolled (49% males, mean age 66.2 ± 14.6 years). At the time of test administration, 45% were clinically recovered and 39% were virus-free. Objective hyposmia/anosmia was found in 45% of the patients. Subjective olfactory disorders showed no association with the clinical or viral recovery status of the patients. On the contrary, none of the patients with anosmia and the 5% of hyposmic patients at test had viral recovery. The relative risk for hyposmic patients to be still positive at swab test was 10.323 (95% CI 1.483-71.869, p < .0001). Logistic regression analysis showed an independent and significant correlation between viral clearance and SI-SST scores (OR = 2.242; 95% CI 1.322-3.802, p < .003). ROC curve analysis confirmed that a SI-SST > 10.5 predicts viral clearance with 79% sensitivity and 87% specificity (AUC = 0.883). CONCLUSION: Hyposmia is part of COVID-19 symptoms; however, only objectively assessed olfactory function is associated with viral recovery. SI-SST is an easy and safe instrument, and further large multicentric studies should assess its value to predict infection and recovery.
BACKGROUND: Olfactory and taste disorders were reported in up to 30%-80% of COVID-19patients. The purpose of our study was to objectively assess smell impairment in COVID-19patients and to correlate olfactory function with viral recovery. METHODS: Between 15 and 30 April 2020, hospitalized patients with confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection underwent an objective assessment of olfactory function with the Smell Identification subtest of the Sniffin' Sticks Test (SI-SST). Association between viral recovery and SI-SST performance was evaluated. RESULTS: 51 patients were enrolled (49% males, mean age 66.2 ± 14.6 years). At the time of test administration, 45% were clinically recovered and 39% were virus-free. Objective hyposmia/anosmia was found in 45% of the patients. Subjective olfactory disorders showed no association with the clinical or viral recovery status of the patients. On the contrary, none of the patients with anosmia and the 5% of hyposmic patients at test had viral recovery. The relative risk for hyposmic patients to be still positive at swab test was 10.323 (95% CI 1.483-71.869, p < .0001). Logistic regression analysis showed an independent and significant correlation between viral clearance and SI-SST scores (OR = 2.242; 95% CI 1.322-3.802, p < .003). ROC curve analysis confirmed that a SI-SST > 10.5 predicts viral clearance with 79% sensitivity and 87% specificity (AUC = 0.883). CONCLUSION:Hyposmia is part of COVID-19 symptoms; however, only objectively assessed olfactory function is associated with viral recovery. SI-SST is an easy and safe instrument, and further large multicentric studies should assess its value to predict infection and recovery.
Authors: T Hummel; K L Whitcroft; P Andrews; A Altundag; C Cinghi; R M Costanzo; M Damm; J Frasnelli; H Gudziol; N Gupta; A Haehne; E Holbrook; S C Hong; D Hornung; K B Hüttenbrink; R Kamel; M Kobayashi; I Konstantinidis; B N Landis; D A Leopold; A Macchi; T Miwa; R Moesges; J Mullol; C A Mueller; G Ottaviano; G C Passali; C Philpott; J M Pinto; V J Ramakrishnan; P Rombaux; Y Roth; R A Schlosser; B Shu; G Soler; P Stjärne; B A Stuck; J Vodicka; A Welge-Luessen Journal: Rhinol Suppl Date: 2017-03
Authors: Jerome R Lechien; Carlos M Chiesa-Estomba; Daniele R De Siati; Mihaela Horoi; Serge D Le Bon; Alexandra Rodriguez; Didier Dequanter; Serge Blecic; Fahd El Afia; Lea Distinguin; Younes Chekkoury-Idrissi; Stéphane Hans; Irene Lopez Delgado; Christian Calvo-Henriquez; Philippe Lavigne; Chiara Falanga; Maria Rosaria Barillari; Giovanni Cammaroto; Mohamad Khalife; Pierre Leich; Christel Souchay; Camelia Rossi; Fabrice Journe; Julien Hsieh; Myriam Edjlali; Robert Carlier; Laurence Ris; Andrea Lovato; Cosimo De Filippis; Frederique Coppee; Nicolas Fakhry; Tareck Ayad; Sven Saussez Journal: Eur Arch Otorhinolaryngol Date: 2020-04-06 Impact factor: 2.503
Authors: Mackenzie E Hannum; Vicente A Ramirez; Sarah J Lipson; Riley D Herriman; Aurora K Toskala; Cailu Lin; Paule V Joseph; Danielle R Reed Journal: Chem Senses Date: 2020-12-05 Impact factor: 3.160