Recent Smell Loss Is the Best Predictor of COVID-19 Among Individuals With Recent Respiratory Symptoms
Genre
Journal articleDate
2020-12-25Author
Gerkin, Richard C.Ohla, Kathrin
Veldhuizen, Maria G.
Joseph, Paule V.
Kelly, Christine E.
Bakke, Alyssa J.
Steele, Kimberley E.
Farruggia, Michael C.
Pellegrino, Robert
Pepino, Marta Y.
Bouysset, Cédric
Soler, Graciela M.
Pereda-Loth, Veronica
Dibattista, Michele
Cooper, Keiland W.
Croijmans, Ilja
Di Pizio, Antonella
Ozdener, Mehmet Hakan
Fjaeldstad, Alexander W.
Lin, Cailu
Sandell, Mari A.
Singh, Preet B.
Brindha, V. Evelyn
Olsson, Shannon B.
Saraiva, Luis R.
Ahuja, Gaurav
Alwashahi, Mohammed K.
Bhutani, Surabhi
D'Errico, Anna
Fornazieri, Marco A.
Golebiowski, Jérôme
Hwang, Liang Dar
Öztürk, Lina
Roura, Eugeni
Spinelli, Sara
Whitcroft, Katherine L.
Faraji, Farhoud
Fischmeister, Florian Ph S.
Heinbockel, Thomas
Hsieh, Julien W.
Huart, Caroline
Konstantinidis, Iordanis
Menini, Anna
Morini, Gabriella
Olofsson, Jonas K.
Philpott, Carl M.
Pierron, Denis
Shields, Vonnie D.C.
Voznessenskaya, Vera V.
Albayay, Javier
Altundag, Aytug
Bensafi, Moustafa
Bock, María Adelaida
Calcinoni, Orietta
Fredborg, William
Laudamiel, Christophe
Lim, Juyun
Lundström, Johan N.
Macchi, Alberto
Meyer, Pablo
Moein, Shima T.
Santamaría, Enrique
Sengupta, Debarka
Dominguez, Paloma Rohlfs
Yanik, Hüseyin
Hummel, Thomas
Hayes, John E.
Reed, Danielle R.
Niv, Masha Y.
Munger, Steven D.
Parma, Valentina

Department
PsychologyPermanent link to this record
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12613/6265
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https://doi.org/10.1093/chemse/bjaa081Abstract
In a preregistered, cross-sectional study, we investigated whether olfactory loss is a reliable predictor of COVID-19 using a crowdsourced questionnaire in 23 languages to assess symptoms in individuals self-reporting recent respiratory illness. We quantified changes in chemosensory abilities during the course of the respiratory illness using 0–100 visual analog scales (VAS) for participants reporting a positive (C19+; n = 4148) or negative (C19−; n = 546) COVID-19 laboratory test outcome. Logistic regression models identified univariate and multivariate predictors of COVID-19 status and post-COVID-19 olfactory recovery. Both C19+ and C19− groups exhibited smell loss, but it was significantly larger in C19+ participants (mean ± SD, C19+: −82.5 ± 27.2 points; C19−: −59.8 ± 37.7). Smell loss during illness was the best predictor of COVID-19 in both univariate and multivariate models (ROC AUC = 0.72). Additional variables provide negligible model improvement. VAS ratings of smell loss were more predictive than binary chemosensory yes/no-questions or other cardinal symptoms (e.g., fever). Olfactory recovery within 40 days of respiratory symptom onset was reported for ~50% of participants and was best predicted by time since respiratory symptom onset. We find that quantified smell loss is the best predictor of COVID-19 amongst those with symptoms of respiratory illness. To aid clinicians and contact tracers in identifying individuals with a high likelihood of having COVID-19, we propose a novel 0–10 scale to screen for recent olfactory loss, the ODoR-19. We find that numeric ratings ≤2 indicate high odds of symptomatic COVID-19 (4 < OR < 10). Once independently validated, this tool could be deployed when viral lab tests are impractical or unavailable.Citation
Gerkin, R.C., Ohla, K., Veldhuizen, M.G., et. al. Recent Smell Loss Is the Best Predictor of COVID-19 Among Individuals With Recent Respiratory Symptoms, Chemical Senses, Volume 46, 2021, bjaa081, https://doi.org/10.1093/chemse/bjaa081Citation to related work
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http://dx.doi.org/10.34944/dspace/6247