TY - JOUR
T1 - More than smell - COVID-19 is associated with severe impairment of smell, taste, and chemesthesis
AU - GCCR Group Author
AU - Parma, Valentina
AU - Ohla, Kathrin
AU - Veldhuizen, Maria G.
AU - Niv, Masha Y.
AU - Kelly, Christine E.
AU - Bakke, Alyssa J.
AU - Cooper, Keiland W.
AU - Bouysset, Cédric
AU - Pirastu, Nicola
AU - Dibattista, Michele
AU - Kaur, Rishemjit
AU - Liuzza, Marco Tullio
AU - Pepino, Marta Y.
AU - Schöpf, Veronika
AU - Pereda-Loth, Veronica
AU - Olsson, Shannon B.
AU - Gerkin, Richard C.
AU - Rohlfs Domínguez, Paloma
AU - Albayay, Javier
AU - Farruggia, Michael C.
AU - Bhutani, Surabhi
AU - Fjaeldstad, Alexander W.
AU - Kumar, Ritesh
AU - Menini, Anna
AU - Bensafi, Moustafa
AU - Sandell, Mari
AU - Konstantinidis, Iordanis
AU - Di Pizio, Antonella
AU - Genovese, Federica
AU - Öztürk, Lina
AU - Thomas-Danguin, Thierry
AU - Frasnelli, Johannes
AU - Boesveldt, Sanne
AU - Saatci, Özlem
AU - Saraiva, Luis R.
AU - Lin, Cailu
AU - Golebiowski, Jérôme
AU - Hwang, Liang Dar
AU - Ozdener, Mehmet Hakan
AU - Guàrdia, Maria Dolors
AU - Laudamiel, Christophe
AU - Ritchie, Marina
AU - Havlícek, Jan
AU - Pierron, Denis
AU - Roura, Eugeni
AU - Navarro, Marta
AU - Nolden, Alissa A.
AU - Lim, Juyun
AU - Whitcroft, Katherine L.
AU - Klein, Hadar
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 The Author(s) 2020. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.
PY - 2020/9/1
Y1 - 2020/9/1
N2 - Recent anecdotal and scientific reports have provided evidence of a link between COVID-19 and chemosensory impairments, such as anosmia. However, these reports have downplayed or failed to distinguish potential effects on taste, ignored chemesthesis, and generally lacked quantitative measurements. Here, we report the development, implementation, and initial results of a multilingual, international questionnaire to assess self-reported quantity and quality of perception in 3 distinct chemosensory modalities (smell, taste, and chemesthesis) before and during COVID-19. In the first 11 days after questionnaire launch, 4039 participants (2913 women, 1118 men, and 8 others, aged 19-79) reported a COVID-19 diagnosis either via laboratory tests or clinical assessment. Importantly, smell, taste, and chemesthetic function were each significantly reduced compared to their status before the disease. Difference scores (maximum possible change ±100) revealed a mean reduction of smell (-79.7 ± 28.7, mean ± standard deviation), taste (-69.0 ± 32.6), and chemesthetic (-37.3 ± 36.2) function during COVID-19. Qualitative changes in olfactory ability (parosmia and phantosmia) were relatively rare and correlated with smell loss. Importantly, perceived nasal obstruction did not account for smell loss. Furthermore, chemosensory impairments were similar between participants in the laboratory test and clinical assessment groups. These results show that COVID-19-associated chemosensory impairment is not limited to smell but also affects taste and chemesthesis. The multimodal impact of COVID-19 and the lack of perceived nasal obstruction suggest that severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus strain 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection may disrupt sensory-neural mechanisms.
AB - Recent anecdotal and scientific reports have provided evidence of a link between COVID-19 and chemosensory impairments, such as anosmia. However, these reports have downplayed or failed to distinguish potential effects on taste, ignored chemesthesis, and generally lacked quantitative measurements. Here, we report the development, implementation, and initial results of a multilingual, international questionnaire to assess self-reported quantity and quality of perception in 3 distinct chemosensory modalities (smell, taste, and chemesthesis) before and during COVID-19. In the first 11 days after questionnaire launch, 4039 participants (2913 women, 1118 men, and 8 others, aged 19-79) reported a COVID-19 diagnosis either via laboratory tests or clinical assessment. Importantly, smell, taste, and chemesthetic function were each significantly reduced compared to their status before the disease. Difference scores (maximum possible change ±100) revealed a mean reduction of smell (-79.7 ± 28.7, mean ± standard deviation), taste (-69.0 ± 32.6), and chemesthetic (-37.3 ± 36.2) function during COVID-19. Qualitative changes in olfactory ability (parosmia and phantosmia) were relatively rare and correlated with smell loss. Importantly, perceived nasal obstruction did not account for smell loss. Furthermore, chemosensory impairments were similar between participants in the laboratory test and clinical assessment groups. These results show that COVID-19-associated chemosensory impairment is not limited to smell but also affects taste and chemesthesis. The multimodal impact of COVID-19 and the lack of perceived nasal obstruction suggest that severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus strain 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection may disrupt sensory-neural mechanisms.
KW - Head and neck surgery
KW - Olfaction
KW - Somatosensation
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85092628123&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1093/chemse/bjaa041
DO - 10.1093/chemse/bjaa041
M3 - Article
C2 - 32564071
AN - SCOPUS:85092628123
SN - 0379-864X
VL - 45
SP - 609
EP - 622
JO - Chemical Senses
JF - Chemical Senses
IS - 7
ER -