Making scents of loss of taste in COVID‐19: Is self‐reported loss of taste due to olfactory dysfunction? A prospective study using psychophysical testing

Bon, Serge D Le; Payen, Léa; Prunier, Léa; Steffens, Younès; Horoi, Mihaéla; Vaira, Luigi Angelo; Hopkins, Claire; Lechien, Jérôme R.; Saussez, Sven

doi:10.1002/alr.22815

Cited by 28 publications

(24 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…Three studies assessed taste during acute COVID-19 using the Taste Strips test in a forced-choice paradigm. They found hypogeusia in only 12% to 26% [ 7 , 32 , 33 ]. While the discrepancy between the present results and previous reports may be explained by the test modes (forced-choice testing vs. non-forced choice testing), still the present results obtained eight months after the infection show that taste function does not recover or may even deteriorate in the months following COVID-19.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Persisting olfactory dysfunction in post-COVID-19 is associated with gustatory impairment: Results from chemosensitive testing eight months after the acute infection

et al. 2022

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Olfactory and gustatory disorders are prominent symptoms of acute COVID-19. Although both senses recover in many patients within weeks to months, persistency has been described in up to 60%. However up to now most reports on the course of chemosensitive disorders after COVID-19 are not based on psychophysical testing but only on subjective patients’ ratings. In this study we assessed both olfaction and gustation using psychophysical tests eight months after COVID-19. Validated psychophysical testing revealed hyposmia in 18% and hypogeusia in even 32% of 303 included patients. This shows that olfactory and especially gustatory disorders have to be seen as important chronic symptoms post-COVID-19. The high prevalence of gustatory dysfunction indicates that gustatory function does not recover or might even deteriorate in the months following the acute infection.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Persisting olfactory dysfunction in post-COVID-19 is associated with gustatory impairment: Results from chemosensitive testing eight months after the acute infection

et al. 2022

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“…Bordin et al found the lack of correlation when observing the olfactory recovering in patients with COVID‐19 71 . Le Bon et al showed inconsistency between self‐reporting gustatory dysfunction and “Taste Strips” test score 72 . However, these studies alone cannot lead to a firm conclusion due to limitations of time‐frame between onset of symptoms and performance of psychophysical tests 71,72 .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Le Bon et al showed inconsistency between self‐reporting gustatory dysfunction and “Taste Strips” test score 72 . However, these studies alone cannot lead to a firm conclusion due to limitations of time‐frame between onset of symptoms and performance of psychophysical tests 71,72 . A visual analog scale has been used for the quantitative evaluation of OGD in the included studies and demonstrated a significant difference in self‐rated olfactory and gustatory function between positive and negative COVID‐19 groups 8,23,29,30,32,51–53,55 .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Self‐reported olfactory and gustatory dysfunction and psychophysical testing in screening for COVID‐19: A systematic review and meta‐analysis

Hoang

Staibano

McHugh

et al. 2021

Int Forum Allergy Rhinol

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Background A substantial proportion of coronavirus disease‐2019 (COVID‐19) patients demonstrate olfactory and gustatory dysfunction (OGD). Self‐reporting for OGD is widely used as a predictor of COVID‐19. Although psychophysical assessment is currently under investigation in this role, the sensitivity of these screening tests for COVID‐19 remains unclear. In this systematic review we assess the sensitivity of self‐reporting and psychophysical tests for OGD. Methods A s ystematic search was performed on PubMed, EMBASE, and ClinicalTrials.gov from inception until February 16, 2021. Studies of suspected COVID‐19 patients with reported smell or taste alterations were included. Data were pooled for meta‐analysis. Sensitivity, specificity, and diagnostic odds ratio (DOR) were reported in the outcomes. Results In the 50 included studies (42,902 patients), self‐reported olfactory dysfunction showed a sensitivity of 43.9% (95% confidence interval [CI], 37.8%‐50.2%), a specificity of 91.8% (95% CI, 89.0%‐93.9%), and a DOR of 8.74 (95% CI, 6.67‐11.46) for predicting COVID‐19 infection. Self‐reported gustatory dysfunction yielded a sensitivity of 44.9% (95% CI, 36.4%‐53.8%), a specificity of 91.5% (95% CI, 87.7%‐94.3%), and a DOR of 8.83 (95% CI, 6.48‐12.01). Olfactory psychophysical tests analysis revealed a sensitivity of 52.8% (95% CI, 25.5%‐78.6%), a specificity of 88.0% (95% CI, 53.7%‐97.9%), and a DOR of 8.18 (95% CI, 3.65‐18.36). One study used an identification test for gustatory sensations assessment. Conclusion Although demonstrating high specificity and DOR values, neither self‐reported OGD nor unvalidated and limited psychophysical tests were sufficiently sensitive in screening for COVID‐19. They were not suitable adjuncts in ruling out the disease.

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“…Andrew et al [26] followed up 114 patients with mild to moderate COVID-19 and demonstrated that hypogeusia and ageusia persisted in 43.7% and 9.2% of patients, respectively, after 52 days from symptom onset. When COVID-19 cohorts other than East Asians were followed up for 1-7 months, hypogeusia was reported by 22.6-28% patients [24,38], but ageusia by 5.0-11.5% [19,22,29,36,41,45,46,55,56].…”

Section: Quantitative and Qualitative Dysfunctionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Persistent gustatory dysfunction of COVID-19 has been commonly assessed by subjectivelyreported impressions of patients on taste impairment or alteration, whereas psychophysical tests using the solutions of taste substances were employed by several studies [20,24,30,31,51]. When 93 hospitalized COVID-19 patients were followed up 6 weeks after symptom onset, prevalence of hypogeusia was 4.3% in objective evaluation by taste strips gustatory tests but 22.6% in subjective evaluation by self-reporting questionnaires [24]. Psychophysical evaluation of 72 COVID-19 outpatients 5 weeks after symptom onset also showed prevalence of 5.6% for hypogeusia and 1.4% for ageusia [20].…”

Section: Assessmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Persistent Gustatory Dysfunction in COVID-19 Survivors: A Narrative Literature Review

Tsuchiya

2021

JAMMR

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Patients infected with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) exhibit a diverse spectrum of clinical manifestations, some of which last for a long time, making a great impact on the healthcare of patients who recovered from coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Although taste disorders have been well-recognized to be closely associated with COVID-19, understanding of gustatory sequelae is relatively poor compared with oral symptoms in the early phase of COVID-19. The aim of this study was to characterize gustatory dysfunction in COVID-19 survivors by a narrative literature review of follow-up studies and to speculate the pathogenic mechanisms underlying such a persistent symptom. Scientific articles were retrieved by searching PubMed, LitCovid, ProQuest, medRxiv and bioRxiv from 1 April 2020 with a cut-off date of 10 September 2021. The follow-up time periods of the relevant 49 studies ranged from 4 weeks to 12 months. Results of the literature search indicated that ageusia, hypogeusia and/or dysgeusia persist in up to 45.0% of COVID-19 survivors and that the prevalence of these taste impairments varies depending on ethnicity, age, gender and disease severity of patients. Gustatory dysfunction can be detected at high frequency even one year after symptom onset. Persistence of gustatory dysfunction is pathogenically related to expression of SARS-CoV-2 cellular entry-relevant receptors in taste cells and neural cells, decreased saliva secretion, zinc deficiency, disturbed nervous system and inflammation associated with persistent SARS-CoV-2 infection. Given the long-term persistence of gustatory dysfunction in COVID-19 survivors, their discharge from hospital is not the end of disease. Careful attention should be continuously paid to taste perception of post-COVID-19 patients to recover the health-relating quality of life, which is required for health providers, especially dental professionals who not only may experience COVID-19 survivors but also can easily become aware of their taste abnormalities.

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Making scents of loss of taste in COVID‐19: Is self‐reported loss of taste due to olfactory dysfunction? A prospective study using psychophysical testing

Cited by 28 publications

References 12 publications

Persisting olfactory dysfunction in post-COVID-19 is associated with gustatory impairment: Results from chemosensitive testing eight months after the acute infection

Persisting olfactory dysfunction in post-COVID-19 is associated with gustatory impairment: Results from chemosensitive testing eight months after the acute infection

Self‐reported olfactory and gustatory dysfunction and psychophysical testing in screening for COVID‐19: A systematic review and meta‐analysis

Persistent Gustatory Dysfunction in COVID-19 Survivors: A Narrative Literature Review

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