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. 2022 Oct;94(10):4762-4775.
doi: 10.1002/jmv.27918. Epub 2022 Jun 14.

Olfactory dysfunction in COVID-19, new insights from a cohort of 353 patients: The ANOSVID study

Julien Mercier  1 , Molka Osman  2 , Kevin Bouiller  3 , Can Tipirdamaz  1 , Vincent Gendrin  1 , Catherine Chirouze  3 , Quentin Lepiller  4 , Elodie Bouvier  5 , Pierre-Yves Royer  1 , Alix Pierron  1 , Lynda Toko  1 , Julie Plantin  6 , N'dri-Juliette Kadiane-Oussou  1 , Souheil Zayet  1 , Timothée Klopfenstein  1
Affiliations

Olfactory dysfunction in COVID-19, new insights from a cohort of 353 patients: The ANOSVID study

Julien Mercier et al. J Med Virol. 2022 Oct.

Abstract

Olfactory disorders (OD) pathogenesis, underlying conditions, and prognostic in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) remain partially described. ANOSVID is a retrospective study in Nord Franche-Comté Hospital (France) that included COVID-19 patients from March 1 2020 to May 31 2020. The aim was to compare COVID-19 patients with OD (OD group) and patients without OD (no-OD group). A second analysis compared patients with anosmia (high OD group) and patients with hyposmia or no OD (low or no-OD group). The OD group presented less cardiovascular and other respiratory diseases compared to the no-OD group (odds ratio [OR] = 0.536 [0.293-0.981], p = 0.041 and OR = 0.222 [0.056-0.874], p = 0.037 respectively). Moreover, history of malignancy was less present in the high OD group compared with the low or no-OD group (OR = 0.170 [0.064-0.455], p < 0.001). The main associated symptoms (OR > 5) with OD were loss of taste (OR = 24.059 [13.474-42.959], p = 0.000) and cacosmia (OR = 5.821 [2.246-15.085], p < 0.001). Most of all ORs decreased in the second analysis, especially for general, digestive, and ENT symptoms. Only two ORs increased: headache (OR = 2.697 [1.746-4.167], p < 0.001) and facial pain (OR = 2.901 [1.441-5.842], p = 0.002). The high OD group had a higher creatinine clearance CKD than the low or no-OD group (89.0 ± 21.1 vs. 81.0 ± 20.5, p = 0.040). No significant difference was found concerning the virological, radiological, and severity criteria. OD patients seem to have less comorbidity, especially better cardiovascular and renal function. Associated symptoms with OD were mostly neurological symptoms. We did not find a significant relationship between OD and less severity in COVID-19 possibly due to methodological bias.

Keywords: COVID-19; anosmia; facial pain; olfactory dysfunction; severity.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Flowchart. OD, olfactory dysfunction, RT‐PCR, reverse transcription‐polymerase chain reaction
Figure 2
Figure 2
Comparison of the odd ratios of the symptoms associated with the groups of both analyses. ENT, ear nose and throat; OD, olfactory dysfunction
Figure 3
Figure 3
Percentage of patients with anosmia, hyposmia or without olfactory dysfunction in outpatients, hospitalization and needed. intensive Care Unit admission. ICU, intensive care unit; OD, olfactory dysfunction
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Comment in

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