[Smell and taste disorders in Spanish patients with mild COVID-19]

Smell and Taste Dysfunction in Pediatric Patients With SARS-CoV-2 Infection

INTRODUCTION

Anosmia and hypogeusia are frequent symptoms in severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection in adults, but their incidence in children is unknown.

OBJECTIVE

Describe the incidence and associated characteristics of olfactory and gustatory dysfunction in children with SARS-CoV-2 infection.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

Descriptive study carried out by telephone survey of patients aged between five and 18 years with SARS-CoV-2 infection confirmed between March and December, 2020.

RESULTS

Two hundred eighty Spanish patients (female: 42.2%) with a mean age of 10.4 years (±3.54, range: 5 to 17) were analyzed, 22.5% with other diseases (mostly respiratory: 11.8%). The most frequent symptoms were fever (55.36%) and neurological symptoms (45.7%). Forty-four (15.7%) were hospitalized due to the infection, in intensive care unit (ICU): 7.1%. Forty-five patients (16.1%) had anosmia and/or hypogeusia: 32 both, eight with hypogeusia only, and five with exclusively anosmia. The mean symptom duration in days for anosmia was 36.4, and for hypogeusia it was 27.6. Either symptom was the initial manifestation in 15 patients. None had anosmia/hypogeusia with no other symptoms. Anosmia/hypogeusia was related to the presence of respiratory infection, gastroenteritis, chills, odynophagia, myalgia, asthenia, and anorexia, but not severity (hospitalization/ICU admission). Cohabitation with another infected individual was associated with a higher incidence of anosmia/hypogeusia (P = 0.041) and duration of anosmia (P = 0.006). The presence of anosmia/hypogeusia in cohabitants was associated with longer duration of anosmia (P < 0.001).

CONCLUSIONS

The incidence of anosmia/hypogeusia in children with SARS-CoV-2 was lower than that reported in adults, although with a longer duration. Although no association was found between anosmia/hypogeusia and greater disease severity, recognition of these symptoms could help identify paucisymptomatic patients.

[Oral manifestations of COVID-19 and the role of the ACE2 receptor: what is known so far?]

COVID-19 is a currently pandemic disease that worries professionals in all areas of the Health Sciences. Current literature indicates that certain components of the stomatognathic system (such as lips, oral mucosa, tongue, and tonsils) express ACE2 receptors, responsible for the binding of SARS-CoV-2 to the human cell. This expression has a big impact on organular compromise, turning the oral cavity not only into an important route of viral entry but also into a region with the possibility of various manifestations such as xerostomia, halitosis, chemosensory alteration, opportunistic coinfection, and mucosal lesions. The fact that mouth manifestations are reported in the early stages of this disease suggests a possible predictive nature, which would make them very useful for diagnostic referral. In this sense, it is important that the dental professional knows how to recognize this early presentation symptomatology, being able to presumptively detect patients with COVID-19 in whom a significant systemic commitment has not yet been consolidated. This would allow the referral to medical consultation for definitive diagnostic purposes and, if correct, prevent both transmission and the advancement of the disease in the patient. Based on this important work, this review article synthesizes the scientific evidence published in the last 3 years (2019-2021 period) about the oral manifestations of COVID-19.

Olfactory and Taste Disorders in Patients Suffering from Covid-19, a Review of Literature

Corona virus epidemic has caused a widespread disaster around the world. In studies, there are pieces of evidence of olfactory and taste dysfunction in patients with Covid-19. These symptoms occur independently or can be associated with other symptoms such as dry cough. The mechanism of the above-mentioned disorders and their clinical features in patients are not yet known. The rate of incidence of olfactory dysfunction in patients has been varied from 29.64% to 75.23% and the rate of incidence of taste dysfunction among the people can be different from 20.46% to 68.95%. Therefore, clinicians including ENT specialists and dentists should pay attention to the symptoms of anosmia and ageusia in these patients to prevent delayed diagnosis and inappropriate treatments. In this review article, data have been collected by searching the available articles in the domestic and foreign journals using databases such as PubMed, PubMed Central, Medline, EBSCO, Google Scholar, and Embase with key words of Anosmia, Ageusia, Dysgeusia, Covid-19, and Coronavirus from 2019 to 2020. Among the relevant references, 38 authoritative articles were chosen. The data showed that it seems olfactory and taste function disorders are the obvious symptoms of Covid-19, which can occur independently or with other symptoms, but the pathogenesis is not well specified yet. Therefore, further studies are required to achieve a reliable result in this area.

Exploring the Clinical Utility of Gustatory Dysfunction (GD) as a Triage Symptom Prior to Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) in the Diagnosis of COVID-19: A Meta-Analysis and Systematic Review

BACKGROUND

The diagnosis of COVID-19 is made using reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) but its sensitivity varies from 20 to 100%. The presence of gustatory dysfunction (GD) in a patient with upper respiratory tract symptoms might increase the clinical suspicion of COVID-19.

AIMS

To perform a systematic review and meta-analysis to determine the pooled sensitivity, specificity, positive likelihood ratio (LR+), negative likelihood ratio (LR-) and diagnostic odds ratio (DOR) of using GD as a triage symptom prior to RT-PCR.

METHODS

PubMed and Embase were searched up to 20 June 2021. Studies published in English were included if they compared the frequency of GD in COVID-19 adult patients (proven by RT-PCR) to COVID-19 negative controls in case control or cross-sectional studies. The Newcastle-Ottawa scale was used to assess the methodological quality of the included studies.

RESULTS

21,272 COVID-19 patients and 52,298 COVID-19 negative patients were included across 44 studies from 21 countries. All studies were of moderate to high risk of bias. Patients with GD were more likely to test positive for COVID-19: DOR 6.39 (4.86-8.40), LR+ 3.84 (3.04-4.84), LR- 0.67 (0.64-0.70), pooled sensitivity 0.37 (0.29-0.47) and pooled specificity 0.92 (0.89-0.94). While history/questionnaire-based assessments were predictive of RT-PCR positivity (DOR 6.62 (4.95-8.85)), gustatory testing was not (DOR 3.53 (0.98-12.7)). There was significant heterogeneity among the 44 studies (I2 = 92%, p < 0.01).

CONCLUSIONS

GD is useful as a symptom to determine if a patient should undergo further testing, especially in resource-poor regions where COVID-19 testing is scarce. Patients with GD may be advised to quarantine while repeated testing is performed if the initial RT-PCR is negative.

FUNDING

None.

Small fiber neuropathy in the cornea of Covid-19 patients associated with the generation of ocular surface disease

Purpose

To describe the association between Sars-CoV-2 infection and small fiber neuropathy in the cornea identified by in vivo corneal confocal microscopy.

Methods

Twenty-three patients who had overcome COVID-19 were recruited to this observational retrospective study. Forty-six uninfected volunteers were also recruited and studied as a control group. All subjects were examined under in vivo confocal microscopy to obtain images of corneal subbasal nerve fibers in order to study the presence of neuroma-like structures, axonal beadings and dendritic cells. The Ocular Surface Disease Index (OSDI) questionnaire and Schirmer tear test were used as indicators of Dry Eye Disease (DED) and ocular surface pathology.

Results

Twenty-one patients (91.31%) presented alterations of the corneal subbasal plexus and corneal tissue consistent with small fiber neuropathy. Images from healthy subjects did not indicate significant nerve fiber or corneal tissue damage. Eight patients reported increased sensations of ocular dryness after COVID-19 infection and had positive DED indicators. Beaded axons were found in 82.60% of cases, mainly in patients reporting ocular irritation symptoms. Neuroma-like images were found in 65.22% patients, more frequently in those with OSDI scores >13. Dendritic cells were found in 69.56% of patients and were more frequent in younger asymptomatic patients. The presence of morphological alterations in patients up to 10 months after recovering from Sars-CoV-2 infection points to the chronic nature of the neuropathy.

Conclusions

Sars-CoV-2 infection may be inducing small fiber neuropathy in the ocular surface, sharing symptomatology and morphological landmarks with DED and diabetic neuropathy.

Factors influencing the COVID-19 mortality rate in the European Union: importance of medical professionals

Objective

The aim of this paper is to analyze whether health variables such as the total number of physicians, available beds, and public spending on health care influence the number of deaths. The influence of other variables such as the Human Development Index and public health measures is also analyzed.

Study design

Statistical study. Evaluation of variables associated with COVID-19 mortality in the EU.

Methods

A multiple regression analysis is performed for the countries of the European Union.

Results

Health expenditure, public health measures and the number of physicians influence the total number of deaths. The more physicians, the lower the number of deaths. However, the number of beds or the Human Development Index are not determinants of the number of deaths.

Conclusions

A greater number of medical professionals will improve health care and reduce the number of deaths.

Olfactory Training and Visual Stimulation Assisted by a Web Application for Patients With Persistent Olfactory Dysfunction After SARS-CoV-2 Infection: Observational Study

Background

Persistent olfactory dysfunction is a significant complication of SARS-CoV-2 infection. Olfactory training involving aromatic oils has been recommended to improve olfactory recovery, but quantitative data are missing.

Objective

We aimed to quantify the benefit of olfactory training and visual stimulation assisted by a dedicated web application for patients who experienced olfactory dysfunction for ≥1 month.

Methods

We performed an observational, real-life, data-based study on a cohort of patients who experienced at least 1 month of persistent olfactory dysfunction between January 30 and March 26, 2021. An analysis was performed after a mean olfactory training time of 4 weeks, and at least 500 patients were assessable for primary outcome assessment. Participants exposed themselves twice daily to odors from 4 high-concentration oils and visual stimulation assisted by a dedicated web application. Improvement was defined as a 2-point increase on a 10-point, self-assessed olfactory visual analogue scale.

Results

In total, 548 patients were assessable for primary outcome assessment. The mean baseline, self-assessed olfactory score was 1.9 (SD 1.7), and this increased to 4.6 (SD 2.8) after a mean olfactory training time of 27.7 days (SD 17.2). Olfactory training was associated with at least a 2-point increase in 64.2% (352/548) of patients. The rate of patients’ olfactory improvement was higher for patients who trained for more than 28 days than that rate for patients who trained for less than 28 days (73.3% vs 59%; P=.002). The time to olfactory improvement was 8 days faster for patients with hyposmia compared to the time to improvement for patients with anosmia (P<.001). This benefit was observed regardless of the duration of the olfactory dysfunction.

Conclusions

Olfactory training and visual stimulation assisted by a dedicated web application was associated with significant improvement in olfaction, especially after 28 days of olfactory training.

Characterization of Headache in COVID-19: a Retrospective Multicenter Study

Headache is the most common neurological symptom in COVID-19, reported in 6.5 to 34% of patients. Few studies have analyzed its characteristics, and some of them included cases without laboratory confirmation or reported only critical patients. We aimed to analyze the clinical characteristics of COVID-19 associated headache in laboratory-confirmed cases. We conducted a retrospective evaluation of patients with COVID-19 and neurological symptoms. Patients who reported headache answered an interview about its clinical characteristics. Twenty-four patients with COVID-19 associated headache completed the interview. Mean age of patients was 53.8 (standard deviation—17.44), and 14 out of 24 (58.3%) were male. The majority (75%) had no previous history of headache. Fever was documented in 19 out of the 24 patients (79.1%). Headache was predominantly bifrontal or holocranial, in pressure, during hours, worsening with cough or physical activity. COVID-19 headache tends to appear in the first days of symptoms, be either frontal or holocranial and last for days. The quality of pain in pressure and the worsening with cough or physical activity were reported in most cases. We have not found any characteristic that could differentiate COVID-19 associated headache from other causes of headache, possibly because of its multifactorial mechanism.

Registro argentino de manifestaciones neurológicas por coronavirus-19 (COVID-19)

La enfermedad por COVID-19 se ha extendido por el mundo desde diciembre de 2019. Los síntomas neurológicos forman parte de su espectro clínico.

Objetivo

Conocer las manifestaciones neurológicas en pacientes infectados por COVID-19 en Argentina.

Métodos

Estudio multicéntrico realizado en adultos, desde mayo de 2020 a enero de 2021, con COVID-19 confirmado y síntomas neurológicos. Se consignaron variables demográficas, existencia de comorbilidades sistémicas o neurológicas, la forma de comienzo de la infección, alteración en estudios complementarios y el grado de severidad de los síntomas neurológicos.

Resultados

Se incluyeron 817 pacientes de todo el país, 52% varones, edad promedio 38 años. La mayoría sin comorbilidades ni patología neurológica previa. El primer síntoma de la infección fue neurológico en 56,2% de los casos, predominando la cefalea (69%), luego anosmia/ageusia (66%). También se reportaron mialgias (52%), alodinia/hiperalgesia (18%), astenia (6%). Un 3,2% mostró compromiso difuso del SNC como encefalopatía o convulsiones. Un 1,7% tuvo complicaciones cerebrovasculares. Los trastornos del sueño se observaron en 3,2%. Se reportaron seis pacientes con síndrome de Guillain-Barré (GBS), neuropatía periférica (3,4%), parestesias en lengua (0,6%), hipoacusia (0,4%), plexopatía (0,3%). La severidad de síntomas neurológicos se correlacionó con la edad y la existencia de comorbilidades.

Conclusiones

Nuestros resultados, similares a los de otros países, muestran dos tipos de síntomas neurológicos asociados a COVID-19: algunos potencialmente incapacitantes o mortales como el GBS o la encefalitis, y otros menos devastadores, pero más frecuentes, como cefalea o anosmia que demandan en forma creciente atención a largo plazo.

Anosmia and dysgeusia in SARS-CoV-2 infection: incidence and effects on COVID-19 severity and mortality, and the possible pathobiology mechanisms - a systematic review and meta-analysis

Background: The present study aimed to determine the global prevalence of anosmia and dysgeusia in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients and to assess their association with severity and mortality of COVID-19. Moreover, this study aimed to discuss the possible pathobiological mechanisms of anosmia and dysgeusia in COVID-19. Methods: Available articles from PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, and preprint databases (MedRxiv, BioRxiv, and Researchsquare) were searched on November 10th, 2020. Data on the characteristics of the study (anosmia, dysgeusia, and COVID-19) were extracted following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guideline. Newcastle-Ottawa scale was used to assess research quality. Moreover, the pooled prevalence of anosmia and dysgeusia were calculated, and the association between anosmia and dysgeusia in presence of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) was assessed using the Z test. Results: Out of 32,142 COVID-19 patients from 107 studies, anosmia was reported in 12,038 patients with a prevalence of 38.2% (95% CI: 36.5%, 47.2%); whereas, dysgeusia was reported in 11,337 patients out of 30,901 COVID-19 patients from 101 studies, with prevalence of 36.6% (95% CI: 35.2%, 45.2%), worldwide. Furthermore, the prevalence of anosmia was 10.2-fold higher (OR: 10.21; 95% CI: 6.53, 15.96, p < 0.001) and that of dysgeusia was 8.6-fold higher (OR: 8.61; 95% CI: 5.26, 14.11, p < 0.001) in COVID-19 patients compared to those with other respiratory infections or COVID-19 like illness. To date, no study has assessed the association of anosmia and dysgeusia with severity and mortality of COVID-19. Conclusion: Anosmia and dysgeusia are prevalent in COVID-19 patients compared to those with the other non-COVID-19 respiratory infections. Several possible mechanisms have been hypothesized; however, future studies are warranted to elucidate the definitive mechanisms of anosmia and dysgeusia in COVID-19. Protocol registration: PROSPERO CRD42020223204.