A significant proportion of people who test positive for COVID-19 have chemosensory deficits. However, the reported prevalence of these deficits in smell and taste varies widely, and the reason for...

Prevalence of Chemosensory Dysfunction in COVID-19 Patients: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis Reveals Significant Ethnic Differences.

Neurological complications of coronavirus infection; a comparative review and lessons learned during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Olfactory dysfunction in upper airway viral infections (common cold, acute rhinosinusitis) is common (> 60%). During the COVID-19 outbreak, frequency of sensory disorders (smell and/or taste) in affected patients has shown a high variability from 5 to 98%, depending on the methodology, country, and study. A sudden, severe, isolated loss of smell and/or taste, in the absence of other upper airway inflammatory diseases (allergic rhinitis, chronic rhinosinusitis, nasal polyposis), should alert individuals and physicians on being potentially affected by COVID-19. The evaluation of smell/taste disorders with a visual analogue scale or an individual olfactory or gustatory test, at the hospital or by telemedicine, to prevent contamination might facilitate an early detection of infected patients and reduce the transmission of SARS-CoV-2. During the COVID-19 outbreak, patients with sudden loss of smell should initiate social distancing and home isolation measures and be tested for SARS-CoV-2 diagnostic test when available. Olfactory training is recommended when smell does not come back after 1 month but can be started earlier.

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The Loss of Smell and Taste in the COVID-19 Outbreak: a Tale of Many Countries.

Electrochemical sensors for the detection of SARS-CoV-2 virus

Background and objective Since the initial anecdotal reports of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) from China, a growing number of studies have reported on smell and/or taste dysfunction (STD) Objective: The aim of our study was to investigate the frequency and severity of STD in COVID-19 patients and to evaluate the association with demographic characteristics, hospital admission, symptoms, comorbidities, and blood biomarkers Methods We performed a multicenter cross-sectional study on patients who were positive for SARS-CoV-2 (n=846) and controls (n=143) from 15 Spanish hospitals Data on STD were collected prospectively using an in-person survey The severity of STD was categorized using a visual analog scale We analyzed time to onset, recovery rate, time to recovery, hospital admission, pneumonia, comorbidities, smoking, and symptoms Results STD was at least 2-fold more common in COVID-19-positive patients than in controls COVID-19-positive hospitalized patients were older, with a lower frequency of STD, and recovered earlier than outpatients Analysis stratified by severity of STD showed that more than half of COVID-19 patients presented severe loss of smell (537%) or taste (522%); both senses were impaired in >90% In the multivariate analysis, older age (>60 years), being hospitalized, and increased C-reactive protein were associated with a better sense of smell and/or taste COVID-19-positive patients reported improvement in smell (456%) and taste (461%) at the time of the survey; in 906% this was within 2 weeks of infection Conclusion STD is a common symptom in COVID-19 and presents mainly in young and nonhospitalized patients More studies are needed to evaluate follow-up of chemosensory impairment

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D Poletti-Serafini

Papers

Smell and taste dysfunction in COVID-19 is associated with younger age in ambulatory settings: a multicenter cross-sectional study