More than smell - COVID-19 is associated with severe impairment of smell, taste, and chemesthesis

Parma, Valentina, Ohla, Kathrin, Veldhuizen, Maria G., Niv, Masha Y, Kelly, Christine E, Bakke, Alyssa J., Cooper, Keiland W., Bouysset, Cédric, Pirastu, Nicola, Dibattista, Michele, Kaur, Rishemjit, Liuzza, Marco Tullio, Pepino, Marta Y., Schöpf, Veronika, Pereda-Loth, Veronica, Olsson, Shannon B., Gerkin, Richard C., Rohlfs Domínguez, Paloma, Albayay, Javier, Farruggia, Michael C., Bhutani, Surabhi, Fjaeldstad, Alexander W., Kumar, Ritesh, Menini, Anna, Bensafi, Moustafa, Sandell, Mari, Konstantinidis, Iordanis, Di Pizio, Antonella, Genovese, Federica, Öztürk, Lina, Thomas-Danguin, Thierry, Frasnelli, Johannes, Boesveldt, Sanne, Saatci, Özlem, Saraiva, Luis R., Lin, Cailu, Golebiowski, Jérôme, Hwang, Liang-Dar, Ozdener, Mehmet Hakan, Guàrdia, Maria Dolors, Laudamiel, Christophe, Ritchie, Marina, Havlícek, Jan, Pierron, Denis, Roura, Eugeni, Navarro, Marta, Nolden, Alissa A., Lim, Juyun, Philpott, Carl M. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1125-3236 and Parker, Jane K. and GCCR Group Author (2020) More than smell - COVID-19 is associated with severe impairment of smell, taste, and chemesthesis. Chemical Senses, 45 (7). 609–622. ISSN 0379-864X

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Abstract

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.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	Corrigendum at 10.1093/chemse/bjab050
Uncontrolled Keywords:	head and neck surgery,olfaction,somatosensation,medicine(all),otorhinolaryngology,sensory systems,physiology (medical),physiology,behavioral neuroscience ,/dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/2700
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Norwich Medical School
UEA Research Groups:	Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Research Groups > Respiratory and Airways Group Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Research Centres > Lifespan Health
Related URLs:	http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?...
Depositing User:	LivePure Connector
Date Deposited:	07 Jul 2020 23:57
Last Modified:	17 Apr 2024 10:30
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/75938
DOI:	10.1093/chemse/bjaa041

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