Olfactory and Gustatory Dysfunction as an Early Identifier of COVID‐19 in Adults and Children: An International Multicenter Study

Abstract

Objective To evaluate the prevalence and characteristics of olfactory or gustatory dysfunction in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients. Study Design Multicenter case series. Setting Five tertiary care hospitals (3 in China, 1 in France, 1 in Germany). Subjects and Methods In total, 394 polymerase chain reaction (PCR)–confirmed COVID-19-positive patients were screened, and those with olfactory or gustatory dysfunction were included. Data including demographics, COVID-19 severity, patient outcome, and the incidence and degree of olfactory and/or gustatory dysfunction were collected and analyzed. The Questionnaire of Olfactory Disorders (QOD) and visual analog scale (VAS) were used to quantify olfactory and gustatory dysfunction, respectively. All subjects at 1 hospital (Shanghai) without subjective olfactory complaints underwent objective testing. Results Of 394 screened subjects, 161 (41%) reported olfactory and/or gustatory dysfunction and were included. Incidence of olfactory and/or gustatory disorders in Chinese (n = 239), German (n = 39), and French (n = 116) cohorts was 32%, 69%, and 49%, respectively. The median age of included subjects was 39 years, 92 of 161 (57%) were male, and 10 of 161 (6%) were children. Of included subjects, 10% had only olfactory or gustatory symptoms, and 19% had olfactory and/or gustatory complaints prior to any other COVID-19 symptom. Of subjects with objective olfactory testing, 10 of 90 demonstrated abnormal chemosensory function despite reporting normal subjective olfaction. Forty-three percent (44/102) of subjects with follow-up showed symptomatic improvement in olfaction or gustation. Conclusions Olfactory and/or gustatory disorders may represent early or isolated symptoms of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 infection. They may serve as a useful additional screening criterion, particularly for the identification of patients in the early stages of infection.

Neuromuscular presentations in patients with COVID-19

“…We identified 2 meta-analyses of 24 and 21 studies/case reports respectively that described patients with olfactory/ gustatory dysfunction [69,70]. In addition, we describe 11 studies that evaluated olfactory/gustatory dysfunction in COVID-19 patients (Table 6) [71][72][73][74][75][76][77][78][79][80][81].…”

“…They found that the use of intranasal or oral steroids enhanced the recovery of COVID-19related olfactory/gustatory dysfunction [70]. We found 11 studies that specifically evaluated gustatory and olfactory functions in patients with COVID-19 infection [71][72][73][74][75][76][77][78][79][80][81]. Majority of patients had olfactory/gustatory dysfunction in addition to other symptoms like fever, cough, sore throat, and headache.…”

Prevalence of Anosmia and Ageusia in Patients with COVID-19 at a Primary Health Center, Doha, Qatar

“…The prevalence rates of ageusia and anosmia, ageusia, and anosmia were 8.51%, 11.35%, and 4.96%, respectively, making the overall prevalence rate 24.82% Table 1. Qiu et al multi-centric case series study found that 41% of the COVID-19 patients complained from STA [10]. Speth et al reported that the prevalence rate of olfactory dysfunction was 61.2% [11].…”

“…Chemosensory dysfunctions are common problems during the pandemic COVID-19 crisis. Smell and taste Abnormalities (STA) were the rst and the only complaints in 10% of subjects, 19% experienced STA before other classical symptoms like fever and cough, as well as 25% of the children had only STA at the time of the presentation [10]. Therefore, these disorders are indicators of early cases of COVID-19 disease and necessary for screening and infection control.…”

“…The patients were divided into asymptomatic and symptomatic. The severity of the symptomatic diseases were classi ed into [10]…”