ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION: Disorders of the sense of smell and taste are often complained as a long-COVID symptom. In a special long-COVID consultation (ENT-LCS), we wanted to figure out how large the proportion of pathological olfactory or gustatory diagnoses actually is in this cohort. METHODS: 48 adult patients who visited the ENT-LCS because of their own suffering were asked about their history, rated their ability to smell (SER) and taste (SES) with school grades and completed the extended Sniffin' Sticks test and the 3-drop test as a taste test. Diagnoses were made from the SDI smell score and the total taste score using normative values. Correlations were calculated between the measured scores and the self-assessment and between SER and SES. RESULTS: Pathological chemosensory diagnoses were present in 90%. Pathological olfactory diagnoses were twice as common as gustatory ones. No pathological diagnosis could be verified in 10% of the cohort. Anosmia-ageusia syndrome was diagnosed in six patients. SER correlated strongly with SDI. SES correlated moderately with SScore-total. SER correlated strongly with SES. CONCLUSIONS: There is a risk of smell-taste confusion when interpreting reported chemosensory symptoms. This is another reason why reference is made to the importance of quantifying the chemical senses with validated tests.
Subject(s)
COVID-19 , Olfaction Disorders , Adult , Humans , Smell , Taste , Olfaction Disorders/diagnosis , Post-Acute COVID-19 Syndrome , COVID-19/complicationsABSTRACT
PURPOSE: The prevalence of long-term olfactory and gustatory dysfunction in participants suffering from sudden chemosensory loss due to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is unknown. Furthermore, evaluations of the reliability of participants' self-reporting of olfactory function (SOF) and gustatory function (SGF) using extended objective psychophysical testing are missing. METHODS: In this population-based cohort study in a PCR-tested community in Thuringia, Germany, olfactory function was extensively examined 4 months after a COVID-19 outbreak using the "Sniffin Sticks" test battery to determine the TDIa score, i.e., the sum of results obtained for threshold, discrimination, and identification scores averaged for both nasal sides. Gustatory function was assessed using the three-drop test resulting in the gustatory composite score (CSg). The data were compared with SOF and SGF. RESULTS: Of 43 adult convalescents (median age: 68 years; 58% female) after SARS-CoV2 infection, 18 participants (42%) had olfactory complaints due to SOF, one participant (2%) complained of taste disturbance due to SGF. The TDIa was 22.0⯱ 5.9. Normosmia, hyposmia, and anosmia were seen in 17, 18, and eight participants, respectively. TDIa correlated with SOF (rsâ¯= -0.434, pâ¯= 0.004); CSg was 23.5⯱ 2.7. Normogeusia and hypogeusia were objectified in 39 and four participants, respectively. The prevalence of long-term olfactory dysfunction and gustatory dysfunction in the study group was 60.5 and 9.3%, respectively. CONCLUSION: The SOF was reliable, especially for participants who felt a sudden chemosensory dysfunction during the outbreak. At 4 months after SARS-CoV2 infection, a high proportion of participants were dysosmic, whereas nearly all of them had normal taste function.