Olfactory and gustatory function impairment in COVID-19 patients: Italian objective multicenter-study

Luigi Angelo Vaira; Claire Hopkins; Giovanni Salzano; Marzia Petrocelli; Andrea Melis; Marco Cucurullo; Mario Ferrari; Laura Gagliardini; Carlotta Pipolo; Giovanna Deiana; Vito Fiore; Andrea De Vito; Nicola Turra; Sara Canu; Angelantonio Maglio; Antonello Serra; Francesco Bussu; Giordano Madeddu; Sergio Babudieri; Alessandro Giuseppe Fois; Pietro Pirina; Francesco A. Salzano; Pierluigi De Riu; Federico Biglioli; Giacomo De Riu

doi:10.1002/hed.26269

Olfactory and gustatory function impairment in COVID-19 patients: Italian objective multicenter-study

Luigi Angelo Vaira^*, Claire Hopkins, Giovanni Salzano, Marzia Petrocelli, Andrea Melis, Marco Cucurullo, Mario Ferrari, Laura Gagliardini, Carlotta Pipolo, Giovanna Deiana, Vito Fiore, Andrea De Vito, Nicola Turra, Sara Canu, Angelantonio Maglio, Antonello Serra, Francesco Bussu, Giordano Madeddu, Sergio Babudieri, Alessandro Giuseppe FoisPietro Pirina, Francesco A. Salzano, Pierluigi De Riu, Federico Biglioli, Giacomo De Riu

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

206 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Background: Objective data on chemosensitive disorders during COVID-19 are lacking in the Literature. Methods: Multicenter cohort study that involved four Italian hospitals. Three hundred and forty-five COVID-19 patients underwent objective chemosensitive evaluation. Results: Chemosensitive disorders self-reported by 256 patients (74.2%) but the 30.1% of the 89 patients who did not report dysfunctions proved objectively hyposmic. Twenty-five percentage of patients were seen serious long-lasting complaints. All asymptomatic patients had a slight lowering of the olfactory threshold. No significant correlations were found between the presence and severity of chemosensitive disorders and the severity of the clinical course. On the contrary, there is a significant correlation between the duration of the olfactory and gustatory symptoms and the development of severe COVID-19. Conclusions: Patients under-report the frequency of chemosensitive disorders. Contrary to recent reports, such objective testing refutes the proposal that the presence of olfactory and gustatory dysfunction may predict a milder course, but instead suggests that those with more severe disease neglect such symptoms in the setting of severe respiratory disease.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	1560-1569
Number of pages	10
Journal	Head and Neck
Volume	42
Issue number	7
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1002/hed.26269
Publication status	Published - 1 Jul 2020

Keywords

ageusia
anosmia
COVID-19
smell
taste

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Vaira, L. A., Hopkins, C., Salzano, G., Petrocelli, M., Melis, A., Cucurullo, M., Ferrari, M., Gagliardini, L., Pipolo, C., Deiana, G., Fiore, V., De Vito, A., Turra, N., Canu, S., Maglio, A., Serra, A., Bussu, F., Madeddu, G., Babudieri, S., ... De Riu, G. (2020). Olfactory and gustatory function impairment in COVID-19 patients: Italian objective multicenter-study. Head and Neck, 42(7), 1560-1569. https://doi.org/10.1002/hed.26269

@article{7ee0e124c0bc4bd8a74cd63a1c9b3aa2,

title = "Olfactory and gustatory function impairment in COVID-19 patients: Italian objective multicenter-study",

abstract = "Background: Objective data on chemosensitive disorders during COVID-19 are lacking in the Literature. Methods: Multicenter cohort study that involved four Italian hospitals. Three hundred and forty-five COVID-19 patients underwent objective chemosensitive evaluation. Results: Chemosensitive disorders self-reported by 256 patients (74.2%) but the 30.1% of the 89 patients who did not report dysfunctions proved objectively hyposmic. Twenty-five percentage of patients were seen serious long-lasting complaints. All asymptomatic patients had a slight lowering of the olfactory threshold. No significant correlations were found between the presence and severity of chemosensitive disorders and the severity of the clinical course. On the contrary, there is a significant correlation between the duration of the olfactory and gustatory symptoms and the development of severe COVID-19. Conclusions: Patients under-report the frequency of chemosensitive disorders. Contrary to recent reports, such objective testing refutes the proposal that the presence of olfactory and gustatory dysfunction may predict a milder course, but instead suggests that those with more severe disease neglect such symptoms in the setting of severe respiratory disease.",

keywords = "ageusia, anosmia, COVID-19, smell, taste",

author = "Vaira, {Luigi Angelo} and Claire Hopkins and Giovanni Salzano and Marzia Petrocelli and Andrea Melis and Marco Cucurullo and Mario Ferrari and Laura Gagliardini and Carlotta Pipolo and Giovanna Deiana and Vito Fiore and {De Vito}, Andrea and Nicola Turra and Sara Canu and Angelantonio Maglio and Antonello Serra and Francesco Bussu and Giordano Madeddu and Sergio Babudieri and {Giuseppe Fois}, Alessandro and Pietro Pirina and Salzano, {Francesco A.} and {De Riu}, Pierluigi and Federico Biglioli and {De Riu}, Giacomo",

year = "2020",

month = jul,

day = "1",

doi = "10.1002/hed.26269",

language = "English",

volume = "42",

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Vaira, LA, Hopkins, C, Salzano, G, Petrocelli, M, Melis, A, Cucurullo, M, Ferrari, M, Gagliardini, L, Pipolo, C, Deiana, G, Fiore, V, De Vito, A, Turra, N, Canu, S, Maglio, A, Serra, A, Bussu, F, Madeddu, G, Babudieri, S, Giuseppe Fois, A, Pirina, P, Salzano, FA, De Riu, P, Biglioli, F & De Riu, G 2020, 'Olfactory and gustatory function impairment in COVID-19 patients: Italian objective multicenter-study', Head and Neck, vol. 42, no. 7, pp. 1560-1569. https://doi.org/10.1002/hed.26269

TY - JOUR

T1 - Olfactory and gustatory function impairment in COVID-19 patients

T2 - Italian objective multicenter-study

AU - Vaira, Luigi Angelo

AU - Hopkins, Claire

AU - Salzano, Giovanni

AU - Petrocelli, Marzia

AU - Melis, Andrea

AU - Cucurullo, Marco

AU - Ferrari, Mario

AU - Gagliardini, Laura

AU - Pipolo, Carlotta

AU - Deiana, Giovanna

AU - Fiore, Vito

AU - De Vito, Andrea

AU - Turra, Nicola

AU - Canu, Sara

AU - Maglio, Angelantonio

AU - Serra, Antonello

AU - Bussu, Francesco

AU - Madeddu, Giordano

AU - Babudieri, Sergio

AU - Giuseppe Fois, Alessandro

AU - Pirina, Pietro

AU - Salzano, Francesco A.

AU - De Riu, Pierluigi

AU - Biglioli, Federico

AU - De Riu, Giacomo

PY - 2020/7/1

Y1 - 2020/7/1

N2 - Background: Objective data on chemosensitive disorders during COVID-19 are lacking in the Literature. Methods: Multicenter cohort study that involved four Italian hospitals. Three hundred and forty-five COVID-19 patients underwent objective chemosensitive evaluation. Results: Chemosensitive disorders self-reported by 256 patients (74.2%) but the 30.1% of the 89 patients who did not report dysfunctions proved objectively hyposmic. Twenty-five percentage of patients were seen serious long-lasting complaints. All asymptomatic patients had a slight lowering of the olfactory threshold. No significant correlations were found between the presence and severity of chemosensitive disorders and the severity of the clinical course. On the contrary, there is a significant correlation between the duration of the olfactory and gustatory symptoms and the development of severe COVID-19. Conclusions: Patients under-report the frequency of chemosensitive disorders. Contrary to recent reports, such objective testing refutes the proposal that the presence of olfactory and gustatory dysfunction may predict a milder course, but instead suggests that those with more severe disease neglect such symptoms in the setting of severe respiratory disease.

AB - Background: Objective data on chemosensitive disorders during COVID-19 are lacking in the Literature. Methods: Multicenter cohort study that involved four Italian hospitals. Three hundred and forty-five COVID-19 patients underwent objective chemosensitive evaluation. Results: Chemosensitive disorders self-reported by 256 patients (74.2%) but the 30.1% of the 89 patients who did not report dysfunctions proved objectively hyposmic. Twenty-five percentage of patients were seen serious long-lasting complaints. All asymptomatic patients had a slight lowering of the olfactory threshold. No significant correlations were found between the presence and severity of chemosensitive disorders and the severity of the clinical course. On the contrary, there is a significant correlation between the duration of the olfactory and gustatory symptoms and the development of severe COVID-19. Conclusions: Patients under-report the frequency of chemosensitive disorders. Contrary to recent reports, such objective testing refutes the proposal that the presence of olfactory and gustatory dysfunction may predict a milder course, but instead suggests that those with more severe disease neglect such symptoms in the setting of severe respiratory disease.

KW - ageusia

KW - anosmia

KW - COVID-19

KW - smell

KW - taste

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85085050881&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1002/hed.26269

DO - 10.1002/hed.26269

M3 - Article

C2 - 32437022

AN - SCOPUS:85085050881

SN - 1043-3074

VL - 42

SP - 1560

EP - 1569

JO - Head and Neck

JF - Head and Neck

IS - 7

ER -

Olfactory and gustatory function impairment in COVID-19 patients: Italian objective multicenter-study

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Keywords

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