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Frasnelli J, Tognetti A, Winter AL, Thunell E, Olsson MJ, Greilert N, Olofsson JK, Havervall S, Thålin C, Lundström JN. High prevalence of long-term olfactory disorders in healthcare workers after COVID-19: A case-control study. PLoS One 2024; 19:e0306290. [PMID: 38950019 PMCID: PMC11216562 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0306290] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/26/2023] [Accepted: 06/14/2024] [Indexed: 07/03/2024] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND More than a year after recovering from COVID-19, a large proportion of individuals, many of whom work in the healthcare sector, still report olfactory dysfunctions. However, olfactory dysfunction was common already before the COVID-19 pandemic, making it necessary to also consider the existing baseline prevalence of olfactory dysfunction. To establish the adjusted prevalence of COVID-19 related olfactory dysfunction, we assessed smell function in healthcare workers who had contracted COVID-19 during the first wave of the pandemic using psychophysical testing. METHODS Participants were continuously tested for SARS-CoV-2 IgG antibodies since the beginning of the pandemic. To assess the baseline rate of olfactory dysfunction in the population and to control for the possibility of skewed recruitment of individuals with prior olfactory dysfunction, consistent SARS-CoV-2 IgG naïve individuals were tested as a control group. RESULTS Fifteen months after contracting COVID-19, 37% of healthcare workers demonstrated a quantitative reduction in their sense of smell, compared to only 20% of the individuals in the control group. Fifty-one percent of COVID-19-recovered individuals reported qualitative symptoms, compared to only 5% in the control group. In a follow-up study 2.6 years after COVID-19 diagnosis, 24% of all tested recovered individuals still experienced parosmia. CONCLUSIONS In summary, 65% of healthcare workers experienced parosmia/hyposmia 15 months after contracting COVID-19. When compared to a control group, the prevalence of olfactory dysfunction in the population increased by 41 percentage points. Parosmia symptoms were still lingering two-and-a half years later in 24% of SARS-CoV-2 infected individuals. Given the amount of time between infection and testing, it is possible that the olfactory problems may not be fully reversible in a plurality of individuals.
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Affiliation(s)
- Johannes Frasnelli
- Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
- Department of Anatomy, Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières, Trois-Rivieres, QC, Canada
| | - Arnaud Tognetti
- Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
- CEE-M, CNRS, INRAE, Institut Agro, University of Montpellier, Montpellier, France
| | - Anja L. Winter
- Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Evelina Thunell
- Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Mats J. Olsson
- Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Nina Greilert
- Department of Clinical Sciences, Karolinska Institutet, Danderyd Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden
| | | | - Sebastian Havervall
- Department of Clinical Sciences, Karolinska Institutet, Danderyd Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Charlotte Thålin
- Department of Clinical Sciences, Karolinska Institutet, Danderyd Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Johan N. Lundström
- Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
- Monell Chemical Senses Center, Philadelphia, PA, United States of America
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Gima E, Teh CSL, Nik Hassan NFH, Yaacob NM, Md Shukri N. Validity and Reliability of the Malay Questionnaire for Olfactory Disorders. Malays J Med Sci 2023; 30:156-166. [PMID: 38239243 PMCID: PMC10793134 DOI: 10.21315/mjms2023.30.6.15] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/18/2023] [Accepted: 03/07/2023] [Indexed: 01/22/2024] Open
Abstract
Background Olfactory disorders (OD) are an umbrella term for a diverse group of smell problems. Numerous tests and questionnaires have been formulated to identify and test the severity of smell impairment, which is not readily available or translated for the Malaysian population. This study aimed to translate the Questionnaire for Olfactory Disorders (QOD) and validate and test the reliability of the Malay Questionnaire for Olfactory Disorders (mQOD). Methods This cross-sectional study was conducted in two tertiary centres. A forward and backward translation was conducted for the QOD. The translated questionnaire was distributed to subjects with self-reported smell disorders on days 1 and 7. Internal consistency was analysed using Cronbach's alpha and test-retest reliability was tested with an intraclass correlation coefficient. Confirmatory factor analysis was performed to test construct validity. Results A total of 375 participants were recruited, 52 dropped out and 323 completed the questionnaire a second time. The Cronbach's alpha coefficient was 0.537 for parosmia (P), 0.892 for life quality (LQ), 0.637 for sincerity (S) and 0.865 for visual analogue score (VAS). The intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) for domain scores was > 0.9, while the ICC for all items was good to excellent. A three-factor model for mQOD showed an acceptable fit with indices chi-square value (CMIN)/degree of freedom (DF) = 3.332, Tucker-Lewis fit index (TLI) = 0.923, comparative fit index (CFI) = 0.939, root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) = 0.079 and standardised root mean square residual (SRMR) = 0.0574. Conclusion The mQOD is a valid and reliable tool for assessing OD in patients.
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Affiliation(s)
- Erica Gima
- Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, School of Medical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Kelantan, Malaysia
| | - Carren Sui Lin Teh
- Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Hospital Sungai Buloh, Selangor, Malaysia
| | - Nik Fariza Husna Nik Hassan
- Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, School of Medical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Kelantan, Malaysia
| | - Najib Majdi Yaacob
- Biostatistics and Research Methodology Unit, School of Medical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Kelantan, Malaysia
| | - Norasnieda Md Shukri
- Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, School of Medical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Kelantan, Malaysia
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Assessment of postviral qualitative olfactory dysfunction using the short SSParoT in patients with and without parosmia. Eur Arch Otorhinolaryngol 2023; 280:469-472. [PMID: 36006515 PMCID: PMC9403959 DOI: 10.1007/s00405-022-07574-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/21/2022] [Accepted: 07/25/2022] [Indexed: 01/07/2023]
Abstract
PURPOSE To examine if the short formed Sniffin Sticks Parosmia Test (SSParoT), a test for parosmia can distinguish cases with parosmia from cases without parosmia. METHODS In this study, 63 patients with postviral olfactory dysfunction were investigated including both COVID and non-COVID cases. The age, symptom duration, degree of parosmia/phantosmia was collected. For olfactory function, the Sniffin Sticks olfactory score was obtained including scores for odor threshold, discrimination and identification. For assessment of parosmic changes, the short SSParoT was adopted and both hedonic range (HedRang) and direction (HedDir) was calculated. RESULTS The mean HedRang of patients with parosmia (2.35, standard deviation, SD = 1.40) and without parosmia (2.78, SD = 1.09) was smaller than that in controls (4.5, SD = 2.15). However, the mean HedDir of both parosmia (- 0.32, SD = 0.98) and non-parosmia patients (0.04, SD = 1.07) was similar to controls (- 0.1, SD = 1.55). When considering that the 10th percentile of the distribution of SSParoT score should distinguish between patients with and without parosmia, the sensitivity of the HedRang was 29% and specificity was 67%. For HedDir, the sensitivity was 6% and specificity was 100%. Only the odor identification score (r = 0.34, p = 0.01) discriminated parosmia and non-parosmia while other measures including HedRang and HedDir did not. CONCLUSION The present study showed that the short SSParoT score could not distinguish patients with parosmia from patients without parosmia. Although the SSParoT represents an innovative approach to assess parosmia, and could be useful in the tracking of parosmic changes, the development of measures to diagnose parosmia in an objective way remains a challenge.
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Is congenital anosmia protective for Parkinson’s disease triggered by pathogenic entrance through the nose? NPJ Parkinsons Dis 2022; 8:152. [DOI: 10.1038/s41531-022-00425-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/16/2021] [Accepted: 10/31/2022] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
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Barros F, Soares SC. Giving meaning to the social world in autism spectrum disorders: Olfaction as a missing piece of the puzzle? Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2020; 116:239-250. [PMID: 32562688 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2020.06.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/24/2019] [Revised: 03/09/2020] [Accepted: 06/04/2020] [Indexed: 12/11/2022]
Abstract
Altered social cognition is a core feature of Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). These impairments have been explained as the consequence of compromised social motivational mechanisms that limit social interest and activate a cascade of social deficits. Following this rational, we argue that approaches capable of surpassing ASD usual restraints (e.g., deficits in verbal abilities), and able to assign social meaning, could be more effective at responding to these difficulties. In this framework, we propose that olfaction, as well as cross-modal integration strategies involving both visual and olfactory domains, may have such potential. In fact, most of socioemotional processing deficits in ASD have been shown in an uni-modal perspective, mainly with visual stimuli. However, the social environment involves other modalities and is typically multisensorial. Given the potential of olfaction as a gateway for socioemotional information in ASD, we argue in favor of studying olfactory perception, as well as visuo-olfactory integration, given the potential of these approaches to drive effective interventions and give the access to a meaningful social world in ASD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Filipa Barros
- Center for Health Technology and Services Research (CINTESIS), Department of Education and Psychology, University of Aveiro, Campus Universitário de Santiago, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal; William James Center for Research (WJCR), Department of Education and Psychology, University of Aveiro, Campus Universitário de Santiago, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal
| | - Sandra C Soares
- Center for Health Technology and Services Research (CINTESIS), Department of Education and Psychology, University of Aveiro, Campus Universitário de Santiago, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal; William James Center for Research (WJCR), Department of Education and Psychology, University of Aveiro, Campus Universitário de Santiago, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal; Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Division of Psychology, Karolinska Institutet, Nobels väg 9, 171 77 Stockholm, Sweden.
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Pellegrino R, Cooper KW, Di Pizio A, Joseph PV, Bhutani S, Parma V. Corona Viruses and the Chemical Senses: Past, Present, and Future. Chem Senses 2020; 45:bjaa031. [PMID: 32407464 PMCID: PMC7239211 DOI: 10.1093/chemse/bjaa031] [Citation(s) in RCA: 59] [Impact Index Per Article: 14.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/12/2020] [Indexed: 12/21/2022] Open
Abstract
A wealth of rapidly evolving reports suggests that olfaction and taste disturbances may be manifestations of the novel COVID-19 pandemic. While otolaryngological societies worldwide have started to consider chemosensory evaluation as a screening tool for COVID-19 infection, the true nature of the relationship between the changes in chemosensory ability and COVID-19 is unclear. Our goal with this review is to provide a brief overview of published and archived literature, as well as the anecdotal reports and social trends related to this topic up to April 29, 2020. We also aim to draw parallels between the clinical/chemosensory symptomology reported in association to past coronavirus pandemics (such as SARS and MERS) and the novel COVID-19. This review also highlights current evidence on persistent chemosensory disturbances after the infection has resolved. Overall, our analysis pinpoints the need for further studies: 1) to better quantify olfaction and taste disturbances associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection, compared to those of other viral and respiratory infections, 2) to understand the relation between smell, taste, and chemesthesis disturbances in COVID-19, and 3) to understand how persistent are these disturbances after the infection has resolved.
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Affiliation(s)
- Robert Pellegrino
- Department of Food Science, Institute of Agriculture, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN, USA
- Smell & Taste Clinic, Department of Otorhinolaryngology, TU Dresden, Dresden, Germany
| | - Keiland W Cooper
- Interdepartmental Neuroscience Program, University of California Irvine, Irvine (CA), USA
| | - Antonella Di Pizio
- Leibniz-Institute for Food Systems Biology at the Technical University of Munich, 85354 Freising, Germany
| | - Paule V Joseph
- Division of Intramural Research, National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR) & National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, 20892, USA
| | - Surabhi Bhutani
- School of Exercise and Nutritional Sciences, San Diego State University, San Diego, California, USA
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Doty RL. Treatments for smell and taste disorders: A critical review. HANDBOOK OF CLINICAL NEUROLOGY 2019; 164:455-479. [PMID: 31604562 DOI: 10.1016/b978-0-444-63855-7.00025-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/22/2022]
Abstract
A key concern of both the patient and physician is whether treatment is available that will eliminate or quell a given chemosensory disturbance. In cases where obvious oral, nasal, or intracranial pathology is involved, rational straightforward approaches to treatment are often available. In cases where damage to the sensory pathways is secondary to chronic inflammatory disease, trauma, viral invasion, toxic exposure, or unknown causes, the direction for therapy is more challenging. Indeed, many chemosensory disorders, if present for any period of time, cannot be reversed, while others spontaneously remit without any therapeutic intervention. This review assesses the strengths and weaknesses of more than two dozen approaches to treatment that have been suggested for a wide range of taste and smell disorders.
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Affiliation(s)
- Richard L Doty
- Smell and Taste Center and Department of Otorhinolaryngology: Head and Neck Surgery, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, United States.
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