Frequency and Clinical Utility of Olfactory Dysfunction in COVID-19: a Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.
Curr Allergy Asthma Rep
; 20(12): 76, 2020 10 13.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-848458
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
Olfactory dysfunction (OD) has been gaining recognition as a symptom of COVID-19, but its clinical utility has not been well defined.OBJECTIVES:
To quantify the clinical utility of identifying OD in the diagnosis of COVID-19 and determine an estimate of the frequency of OD amongst these patients.METHODS:
PubMed was searched up to 1 August 2020. Meta-analysis A included studies if they compared the frequency of OD in COVID-19 positive patients (proven by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction) to COVID-19 negative controls. Meta-analysis B included studies if they described the frequency of OD in COVID-19 positive patients and if OD symptoms were explicitly asked in questionnaires or interviews or if smell tests were performed.RESULTS:
The pooled frequency of OD in COVID-19 positive patients (17,401 patients, 60 studies) was 0.56 (0.47-0.64) but differs between detection via smell testing (0.76 [0.51-0.91]) and survey/questionnaire report (0.53 [0.45-0.62]), although not reaching statistical significance (p = 0.089). Patients with reported OD were more likely to test positive for COVID-19 (diagnostic odds ratio 11.5 [8.01-16.5], sensitivity 0.48 (0.40 to 0.56), specificity 0.93 (0.90 to 0.96), positive likelihood ratio 6.10 (4.47-8.32) and negative likelihood ratio 0.58 (0.52-0.64)). There was significant heterogeneity amongst studies with possible publication bias.CONCLUSION:
Frequency of OD in COVID-19 differs greatly across studies. Nevertheless, patients with reported OD were significantly more likely to test positive for COVID-19. Patient-reported OD is a highly specific symptom of COVID-19 which should be included as part of the pre-test screening of suspect patients.Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Pneumonia, Viral
/
Smell
/
Coronavirus Infections
/
Olfaction Disorders
Type of study:
Diagnostic study
/
Observational study
/
Prognostic study
/
Randomized controlled trials
/
Reviews
/
Systematic review/Meta Analysis
Topics:
Long Covid
Limits:
Humans
Language:
English
Journal:
Curr Allergy Asthma Rep
Journal subject:
Allergy and Immunology
Year:
2020
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
S11882-020-00972-y
Similar
MEDLINE
...
LILACS
LIS