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

Parma, V. and Ohla, K. and Veldhuizen, M.G. and Niv, M.Y. and Kelly, C.E. and Bakke, A.J. and Cooper, K.W. and Bouysset, C. and Pirastu, N. and Dibattista, M. and Kaur, R. and Liuzza, M.T. and Pepino, M.Y. and Schöpf, V. and Pereda-Loth, V. and Olsson, S.B. and Gerkin, R.C. and Rohlfs Domínguez, P. and Albayay, J. and Farruggia, M.C. and Bhutani, S. and Fjaeldstad, A.W. and Kumar, R. and Menini, A. and Bensafi, M. and Sandell, M. and Konstantinidis, I. and Di Pizio, A. and Genovese, F. and �ztürk, L. and Thomas-Danguin, T. and Frasnelli, J. and Boesveldt, S. and Saatci, �. and Saraiva, L.R. and Lin, C. and Golebiowski, J. and Hwang, L.-D. and Ozdener, M.H. and Guà rdia, M.D. and Laudamiel, C. and Ritchie, M. and Havlícek, J. and Pierron, D. and Roura, E. and Navarro, M. and Nolden, A.A. and Lim, J. and Whitcroft, K.L. and Colquitt, L.R. and Ferdenzi, C. and Brindha, E.V. and Altundag, A. and MacChi, A. and Nunez-Parra, A. and Patel, Z.M. and Fiorucci, S. and Philpott, C.M. and Smith, B.C. and Lundström, J.N. and Mucignat, C. and Parker, J.K. and Van Den Brink, M. and Schmuker, M. and Fischmeister, F.Ph.S. and Heinbockel, T. and Shields, V.D.C. and Faraji, F. and Santamaría, E. and Fredborg, W.E.A. and Morini, G. and Olofsson, J.K. and Jalessi, M. and Karni, N. and D'Errico, A. and Alizadeh, R. and Pellegrino, R. and Meyer, P. and Huart, C. and Chen, B. and Soler, G.M. and Alwashahi, M.K. and Welge-Lüssen, A. and Freiherr, J. and De Groot, J.H.B. and Klein, H. and Okamoto, M. and Singh, P.B. and Hsieh, J.W. and Reed, D.R. and Hummel, T. and Munger, S.D. and Hayes, J.E. and Abdulrahman, O. and Dalton, P. and Yan, C.H. and Voznessenskaya, V.V. and Chen, J. and Sell, E.A. and Walsh-Messinger, J. and Archer, N.S. and Koyama, S. and Deary, V. and Roberts, S.C. and Yanlk, H. and Albayrak, S. and Nováková, L.M. and Croijmans, I. and Mazal, P.P. and Moein, S.T. and Margulis, E. and Mignot, C. and Mariño, S. and Georgiev, D. and Kaushik, P.K. and Malnic, B. and Wang, H. and Seyed-Allaei, S. and Yoluk, N. and Razzaghi-Asl, S. and Justice, J.M. and Restrepo, D. and Author, GCCR Group (2020) More than smell - COVID-19 is associated with severe impairment of smell, taste, and chemesthesis. Chemical Senses, 45 (7). pp. 609-622.

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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. © 2020 The Author(s) 2020. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.

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