The COVID-19 outbreak has spread extensively around the world. Loss of smell and taste have emerged as main predictors for COVID-19. The objective of our study is to develop a comprehensive machine learning (ML) modelling framework to assess the predictive value of smell and taste disorders, along with other symptoms, in COVID-19 infection. A multicenter case-control study was performed, in which suspected cases for COVID-19, who were tested by real-time reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), informed about the presence and severity of their symptoms using visual analog scales (VAS). ML algorithms were applied to the collected data to predict a COVID-19 diagnosis using a 50-fold cross-validation scheme by randomly splitting the patients in training (75%) and testing datasets (25%). A total of 777 patients were included. Loss of smell and taste were found to be the symptoms with higher odds ratios of 6.21 and 2.42 for COVID-19 positivity. The ML algorithms applied reached an average accuracy of 80%, a sensitivity of 82%, and a specificity of 78% when using VAS to predict a COVID-19 diagnosis. This study concludes that smell and taste disorders are accurate predictors, with ML algorithms constituting helpful tools for COVID-19 diagnostic prediction.

Background: Although smell and taste disorders are highly prevalent symptoms of COVID-19 infection, the predictive factors leading to long-lasting chemosensory dysfunction are still poorly understood. Methods: 102 out of 421 (24.2%) mildly symptomatic COVID-19 patients completed a second questionnaire about the evolution of their symptoms one year after the infection using visual analog scales (VAS). A subgroup of 69 patients also underwent psychophysical evaluation of olfactory function through UPSIT. Results: The prevalence of chemosensory dysfunction decreased from 82.4% to 45.1% after 12 months, with 46.1% of patients reporting a complete recovery. Patients older than 40 years (OR = 0.20; 95% CI: [0.07, 0.56]) and with a duration of loss of smell longer than four weeks saw a lower odds ratio for recovery (OR = 0.27; 95% CI: [0.10, 0.76]). In addition, 28 patients (35.9%) reported suffering from parosmia, which was associated with moderate to severe taste dysfunction at the baseline (OR = 7.80; 95% CI: [1.70, 35.8]). Among the 69 subjects who underwent the UPSIT, 57 (82.6%) presented some degree of smell dysfunction, showing a moderate correlation with self-reported VAS (r = −0.36, p = 0.0027). Conclusion: A clinically relevant number of subjects reported persistent chemosensory dysfunction and parosmia one year after COVID-19 infection, with a moderate correlation with psychophysical olfactory tests.

Aims and ScopeThe Journal of International Advanced Otology (J Int Adv Otol) is an international, peer reviewed, open access publication that is fully sponsored and owned by the European Academy of Otology and Neurotology and the Politzer Society. The journal is published triannually in April, August, and December and its publication language is English.The scope of the Journal is limited with otology, neurotology, audiology (excluding linguistics) and skull base medicine.The Journal of International Advanced Otology aims to publish manuscripts at the highest clinical and scientific level. J Int Adv Otol publishes original articles in the form of clinical and basic research, review articles, short reports and a limited number of case reports. Controversial patient discussions, communications on emerging technology, and historical issues will also be considered for publication.Target audience of J Int Adv Otol includes physicians and academics who work in the fields of otology, neurotology, audiology and skull base medicine.

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Introduction: Stapedotomy is currently the surgical technique of choice for treating otosclerosis. Despite this, there is not an agreement about the best technique to perform the small fenestra on the footplate, therefore multiple procedures have been proposed. The aim of this study was to investigate the hearing outcomes of microdrill and manual perforator. Material and Methods: Observational prospective study was carried out on patients that underwent stapedotomy. We analyzed the hearing threshold in two groups of patients according to the way the fenestra footplate was realized by microdrill or manual perforator. Results: A total of 113 patients were evaluated. Postoperative hearing gain of the microdrill group was 23.29 (18.58) dB HL 95% CI (18.40-28.18). In the manual perforator group, it was 22.67 (12.91) dB HL 95% CI (19.07-26.26). Both groups were statistically significant. Postoperative bone conductive hearing threshold at the frequencies of 0.5, 1 and 2 KHz and postoperative air conductive hearing threshold at the frequencies of 2 and 4 KHz showed statistically significant differences in the manual perforator group. The closure of air-bone gap was higher in the microdrill group with statistically significant differences. Conclusion: Both, manual perforator and microdrill, have good hearing outcomes at six months after surgery. Manual perforator has better audiological outcomes than microdrill. Hence, manual perforator is a safe technique and can be used in center that do not have other methods to do the small fenestra.