Quick Olfactory Sniffin’ Sticks Test (Q-Sticks) for the detection of smell disorders in COVID-19 patients

Bagnasco, Diego; Passalacqua, Giovanni; Braido, Fulvio; Tagliabue, Elena; Cosini, Filippo; Filauro, Marta; Ioppi, Alessandro; Carobbio, Andrea Luigi Camillo; Mocellin, Davide; Riccio, Anna Maria; Canevari, Frank Rikki

doi:10.1016/j.waojou.2020.100497

Cited by 18 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 35 publications

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“…After a median of 100 days a psychophysical screening test of olfactory and gustatory function was applied to objectively assess the participants' self-reported ability to smell and taste. For this, the Sniffin' Screening12 and Taste Stripes tests, which have been validated in numerous studies and vastly used in clinical practice, were chosen [21,33]. As screening tools these tests allow for the detection of abnormalities in smell and taste function but do not provide a detailed assessment of chemosensory function.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Phantosmia, Parosmia, and Dysgeusia Are Prolonged and Late-Onset Symptoms of COVID-19

Schambeck

Crowell

Wagner

et al. 2021

JCM

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Deficiencies in smell and taste are common symptoms of COVID-19. Quantitative losses are well surveyed. This study focuses on qualitative changes such as phantosmia (hallucination of smell), parosmia (alteration of smell), and dysgeusia (alteration of taste) and possible connections with the adaptive immune system. Subjective experience of deficiency in taste and smell was assessed by two different questionnaires after a median of 100 and 244 days after first positive RT-PCR test. SARS-CoV-2-specific antibody levels were measured with the iFlash-SARS-CoV-2 assay. After 100 days a psychophysical screening test for olfactory and gustatory dysfunction was administered. 30 of 44 (68.2%) participants reported a chemosensory dysfunction (14 quantitative, 6 qualitative, 10 quantitative, and qualitative) during COVID-19, eleven (25.0%) participants (1 quantitative, 7 qualitative, 3 quantitative, and quantity) after 100 days, and 14 (31.8%) participants (1 quantitative, 10 qualitative, 3 quantitative and qualitative) after 244 days. Four (9.1%) participants, who were symptom-free after 100 days reported now recently arisen qualitative changes. Serological and T-cell analysis showed no correlation with impairment of taste and smell. In conclusion, qualitative changes can persist for several months and occur as late-onset symptoms months after full recovery from COVID-19-induced quantitative losses in taste and smell.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Phantosmia, Parosmia, and Dysgeusia Are Prolonged and Late-Onset Symptoms of COVID-19

Schambeck

Crowell

Wagner

et al. 2021

JCM

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“…Olfactory function was assessed with the Sniffin' Sticks 12-identification test (SIT-12; MediSense, Groningen, The Netherlands) [30]. The SIT-12 is a psychophysical, semi-objective assessment of olfactory performance [31] that has been validated in previous studies involving COVID-19 patients [32]. The test consists of 12 Sniffin' sticks that resemble the 12 different odorants, including peppermint, fish, coffee, banana, orange, rose, lemon, pineapple, cinnamon, cloves, leather and licorice.…”

Section: Olfactory Assessment and Assessment Of Other Symptomsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Comparison of Brain Activation Patterns during Olfactory Stimuli between Recovered COVID-19 Patients and Healthy Controls: A Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS) Study

Sharma

Tan

et al. 2021

Brain Sciences

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Impaired sense of smell occurs in a fraction of patients with COVID-19 infection, but its effect on cerebral activity is unknown. Thus, this case report investigated the effect of COVID-19 infection on frontotemporal cortex activity during olfactory stimuli. In this preliminary study, patients who recovered from COVID-19 infection (n = 6) and healthy controls who never contracted COVID-19 (n = 6) were recruited. Relative changes in frontotemporal cortex oxy-hemoglobin during olfactory stimuli was acquired using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). The area under curve (AUC) of oxy-hemoglobin for the time interval 5 s before and 15 s after olfactory stimuli was derived. In addition, olfactory function was assessed using the Sniffin’ Sticks 12-identification test (SIT-12). Patients had lower SIT-12 scores than healthy controls (p = 0.026), but there were no differences in oxy-hemoglobin AUC between healthy controls and patients (p > 0.05). This suggests that past COVID-19 infection may not affect frontotemporal cortex function, and these preliminary results need to be verified in larger samples.

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“…This is the reason why this study conducted a self-assessment for olfactory dysfunction, which addressed as a limitation. The Quick Olfactory Sniffin's Stick test is one of the objective assessments to confirm the olfactory dysfunction using certain strong scents put at the distance of 1-2 cm from nostrils and it has a good performance in identifying the olfactory dysfunction in COVID 19 patients (28). But the Self-MOQ underwent validation through Sniffin's stick test and shows a good discriminant ability (25).…”

Section: Quality Of Information and Subjective Assessment Of Outcomementioning

confidence: 99%

Effect of Full Vaccination and Post-Covid Olfactory Dysfunction in Recovered Covid-19 Patient. A Retrospective Longitudinal Study With Propensity Matching

Herman

Viwattanakulvanid

Dzulhadj

et al. 2022

Preprint

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Background Symptoms after Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) infection affect the quality of life of its survivor especially to the special senses including olfactory function. It is important to prevent the disability at an earlier stage. Vaccination as key prevention has been proven to be effective in reducing symptomatic disease and severity. However, the effects of vaccination on post COVID symptoms have not been evaluated. This study aimed to evaluate the possible protection of full vaccination and the occurrence of post-COVID olfactory dysfunction, specifically anosmia, and hyposmia in patients who were diagnosed with COVID-19. Method A longitudinal analysis using the retrospective cohort of the Indonesian patient-based Post-COVID-19 survey collected from July 2021 until December 2021, involving COVID-19 Patients confirmed by Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) and/or Antigen test. Variables including demography, comorbidities, health behavior, type of vaccine, symptoms, and treatment were collected through an online questionnaire based on the American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery (AAO-HNS). Participants were matched (1:1) using propensity matching score into two exposure statuses, infected 1)>14 days of full vaccination and 2)<14 days or incomplete or unvaccinated. The olfactory dysfunction was assessed two weeks and four weeks after negative conversion with PCR using a self-measured olfactory questionnaire (MOQ). The Generalized Estimating Equation (GEE) was performed to assess the effect of full vaccination on post-COVID-19 olfactory dysfunction. The Receiver Operating Characteristic determined the sensitivity and specificity of the cutoff value of the days from fully vaccinated to diagnosis and the olfactory dysfunction. Results A total of 442 participants were extracted from the cohort and inoculated with the inactivated viral vaccine (99.5%). The prevalence of olfactory dysfunction in two weeks was 9.95% and 5.43% after four weeks. Adjusted by other variables, people who were infected >14 days after being fully vaccinated had a 69% (adjusted Odds Ratio / aOR 0.31 95% CI 0.102-0.941) probability of developing olfactory dysfunction. Longer days of fully vaccinated to infection are associated with increased risk (aOR 1.012 95% CI 1.002-1.022 p-value 0.015). A cut-off of 88 days of full vaccination-to-diagnosis duration has Area Under Curve (AUC) of 0.693 (p=0.002), the sensitivity of 73.9%, and specificity of 63.3% in differentiating the olfactory dysfunction event in two weeks after COVID-19 with a crude odds ratio of 4.852 (95% CI 1.831-12.855 p=0.001) Conclusion After 14 days of full vaccination, the protective effect could reduce the chance of post-COVID olfactory dysfunction although a longer full vaccination-to-diagnosis duration increases the risk. It is important to consider a booster shot starting from 89 days after the last dose in those who received the inactivated viral regimen.

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Quick Olfactory Sniffin’ Sticks Test (Q-Sticks) for the detection of smell disorders in COVID-19 patients

Cited by 18 publications

References 35 publications

Phantosmia, Parosmia, and Dysgeusia Are Prolonged and Late-Onset Symptoms of COVID-19

Phantosmia, Parosmia, and Dysgeusia Are Prolonged and Late-Onset Symptoms of COVID-19

Comparison of Brain Activation Patterns during Olfactory Stimuli between Recovered COVID-19 Patients and Healthy Controls: A Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS) Study

Effect of Full Vaccination and Post-Covid Olfactory Dysfunction in Recovered Covid-19 Patient. A Retrospective Longitudinal Study With Propensity Matching

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