Self-reported smell and taste recovery in coronavirus disease 2019 patients: a one-year prospective study

Boscolo‐Rizzo, Paolo; Guida, Francesco; Polesel, Jerry; Marcuzzo, Alberto Vito; Antonucci, Paolo; Capriotti, Vincenzo; Sacchet, Erica; Cragnolini, Fiordaliso; D’Alessandro, Andrea; Zanelli, Elisa; Marzolino, Riccardo; Lazzarin, Chiara; Tofanelli, Margherita; Gardenal, Nicoletta; Borsetto, Daniele; Hopkins, Claire; Vaira, Luigi Angelo; Tirelli, Giancarlo

doi:10.1007/s00405-021-06839-w

Cited by 89 publications

(111 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…Consistent with several other studies, our study corroborates that dysfunctions of taste and smell are early onset symptoms of COVID-19 [22][23][24][25] and persist in many cases for several months [13,[26][27][28]. It was evident that qualitative changes (parosmia, phantosmia and dysgeusia) can occur as late-onset symptoms.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

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: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

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

Schambeck

Crowell

Wagner

et al. 2021

JCM

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“…However, many geographic differences have been reported and the overall prevalence worldwide is around 46% [8]. The first studies with 6-month follow-up reported that 5% to 11.7% of patients presented severe long-term OD and GD, meaning that we can expect have a high number of patients with disabling disorders in the next few years [9][10][11][12][13]. However, this data must be interpreted with caution as there are significant differences based on the assessment methodology [14] (e.g., objective versus subjective tests) and in no study it is possible to exclude that patients unknowingly presented an OD before COVID-19 [15].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Short-Term Efficacy and Safety of Oral and Nasal Corticosteroids in COVID-19 Patients with Olfactory Dysfunction: A European Multicenter Study

et al. 2021

Self Cite

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Background: The objective of this study was to investigate the efficacy and safety of early administration of oral corticosteroids (OC) or nasal corticosteroids (NC) as an add-on to olfactory training (OT) versus OT alone in patients with olfactory dysfunction (OD) related to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Methods: Patients with a positive diagnosis of COVID-19 and OD were prospectively recruited from March 22 to December 15, 2020 from 4 European hospitals. Patients had confirmed OD on psychophysical testing. All patients undertook OT, with add-on 10 days of OC (group 1: OC + OT), or 1 month of NC (group 2: NC + OT) or olfactory training alone (group 3: OT). Olfactory evaluations (Sniffin’Sticks tests) were carried out at the time of inclusion, 1 and 2 months after the start of the therapeutic course. Results: A total of 152 hyposmic or anosmic patients completed the study. Group 1, 2 and 3 included 59, 22 and 71 patients, respectively and all patient groups were comparable regarding baseline Sniffin’Sticks tests. The median Sniffin’Sticks test values significantly improved from pre- to post-intervention in all groups. The increase of Sniffin’Sticks test values was higher in group 1 (OC + OT) compared with groups 2 and 3 (p < 0.001) at one month after treatment but did not remain so at 2 months. Groups 1, 2 and 3, respectively, presented parosmia in 20/71 (28.2%), 9/22 (40.9%) and 42/71 (59.2%) patients. This difference was statistically significant between group 1 and 3 (p < 0.001). There were no patients with a worsening of the disease or an increase of the severity of the COVID-19 symptoms. Conclusions: The use of OCs in patients with OD related to mild COVID-19 is generally well-tolerated without any case of deterioration of symptoms. OC is associated with greater improvement in psychophysical olfactory evaluations at 1-month post-treatment but there was no difference at 2 months. Parosmia may be reduced following treatment with OC and NC. On the basis of these preliminary results, it is possible to state that considering the 2 months efficacy of OC and NC with respect to the OT alone and the risk-benefit ratio, the benefit to start a specific treatment of COVID-19 related OD cannot be demonstrated and there is a need for a randomised controlled trial to assess this further.

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“…In defiance of this well-known healing capability of the OE, however, a significant number of COVID-19 convalescents experience persistent ODs lasting for 12 months or longer [22][23][24][25]. The absent or exceptionally retarded recovery from COVID-19 ODs in those individuals implies a more severe or lasting damage to the OE by SARS-CoV-2.…”

Section: Persistent Anosmia Hyposmia or Parosmiamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The incidence of smell and/or taste impairment in COVID-19 patients varied from as low as 5% to as high as 98% in the literature, depending on areas, populations, SARS-CoV-2 variants, and methods of diagnosis, but most analyses have reported an OD rate of 20-80% [11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21]. Although a Viruses 2021, 13, 2225 2 of 15 majority of COVID-19-related ODs disappear in a few weeks, the deficits in some patients could persist long after resolution of other COVID-19 abnormalities [22][23][24][25].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

COVID-19 Anosmia: High Prevalence, Plural Neuropathogenic Mechanisms, and Scarce Neurotropism of SARS-CoV-2?

Liang

Wang

2021

Viruses

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Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is the causative pathogen of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). It is known as a respiratory virus, but SARS-CoV-2 appears equally, or even more, infectious for the olfactory epithelium (OE) than for the respiratory epithelium in the nasal cavity. In light of the small area of the OE relative to the respiratory epithelium, the high prevalence of olfactory dysfunctions (ODs) in COVID-19 has been bewildering and has attracted much attention. This review aims to first examine the cytological and molecular biological characteristics of the OE, especially the microvillous apical surfaces of sustentacular cells and the abundant SARS-CoV-2 receptor molecules thereof, that may underlie the high susceptibility of this neuroepithelium to SARS-CoV-2 infection and damages. The possibility of SARS-CoV-2 neurotropism, or the lack of it, is then analyzed with regard to the expression of the receptor (angiotensin-converting enzyme 2) or priming protease (transmembrane serine protease 2), and cellular targets of infection. Neuropathology of COVID-19 in the OE, olfactory bulb, and other related neural structures are also reviewed. Toward the end, we present our perspectives regarding possible mechanisms of SARS-CoV-2 neuropathogenesis and ODs, in the absence of substantial viral infection of neurons. Plausible causes for persistent ODs in some COVID-19 convalescents are also examined.

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Self-reported smell and taste recovery in coronavirus disease 2019 patients: a one-year prospective study

Cited by 89 publications

References 22 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

Short-Term Efficacy and Safety of Oral and Nasal Corticosteroids in COVID-19 Patients with Olfactory Dysfunction: A European Multicenter Study

COVID-19 Anosmia: High Prevalence, Plural Neuropathogenic Mechanisms, and Scarce Neurotropism of SARS-CoV-2?

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