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. 2020 Jul;42(7):1583-1590.
doi: 10.1002/hed.26279. Epub 2020 May 21.

Objective olfactory evaluation of self-reported loss of smell in a case series of 86 COVID-19 patients

Jerome R Lechien  1   2   3   4 , Pierre Cabaraux  1   5 , Carlos M Chiesa-Estomba  1   6 , Mohamad Khalife  1   7 , Stéphane Hans  1   3 , Christian Calvo-Henriquez  1   8 , Delphine Martiny  9   10 , Fabrice Journe  1   2 , Leigh Sowerby  1   11 , Sven Saussez  2   4   7
Affiliations

Objective olfactory evaluation of self-reported loss of smell in a case series of 86 COVID-19 patients

Jerome R Lechien et al. Head Neck. 2020 Jul.

Abstract

Objective: To investigate olfactory dysfunction (OD) in patients with mild coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) through patient-reported outcome questionnaires and objective psychophysical testing.

Methods: COVID-19 patients with self-reported sudden-onset OD were recruited. Epidemiological and clinical data were collected. Nasal complaints were evaluated with the sinonasal outcome-22. Subjective olfactory and gustatory status was evaluated with the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Objective OD was evaluated using psychophysical tests.

Results: Eighty-six patients completed the study. The most common symptoms were fatigue (72.9%), headache (60.0%), nasal obstruction (58.6%), and postnasal drip (48.6%). Total loss of smell was self-reported by 61.4% of patients. Objective olfactory testings identified 41 anosmic (47.7%), 12 hyposmic (14.0%), and 33 normosmic (38.3%) patients. There was no correlation between the objective test results and subjective reports of nasal obstruction or postnasal drip.

Conclusion: A significant proportion of COVID-19 patients reporting OD do not have OD on objective testing.

Keywords: COVID-19; anosmia; coronavirus; evaluation; olfaction; olfactory; smell; taste.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no potential conflict of interest.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Chart flow. NHNES, National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey; SNOT‐22, sinonasal outcome tool‐22; sQOD‐NS, short version of Questionnaire of Olfactory Disorders‐Negative Statements
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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