Lechien Jerome R, Cabaraux Pierre, Chiesa-Estomba Carlos M, Khalife Mohamad, Plzak Jan, Hans Stéphane, Martiny Delphine, Calvo-Henriquez Christian, Barillari Maria R, Hopkins Claire, Saussez Sven
COVID-19 Task Force of the Young-Otolaryngologists of the International Federations of Oto-rhino-laryngological Societies (YO-IFOS), Paris, France.
Department of Human Anatomy and Experimental Oncology, Faculty of Medicine UMONS Research Institute for Health Sciences and Technology, University of Mons (UMons), Mons, Belgium.
Ear Nose Throat J. 2020 Nov;99(9):579-583. doi: 10.1177/0145561320929169. Epub 2020 May 29.
To investigate the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) status of patients with initial sudden olfactory anosmia (ISOA) through nasopharyngeal swabs for reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) analysis and to explore their olfactory dysfunctions with psychophysical olfactory evaluation.
A total of 78 ISOA patients were recruited from April 6, 2020, to April 10, 2020, through a public call of University of Mons (Mons, Belgium). Patients benefited from nasopharyngeal swabs and fulfilled the patient-reported outcome questionnaire. Among them, 46 patients performed psychophysical olfactory evaluation using olfactory identification testing. Based on the duration of the ISOA, 2 groups of patients were compared: patients with olfactory dysfunction duration ≤12 days (group 1) and those with duration >12 days (group 2).
In group 1, 42 patients (87.5%) had a positive viral load determined by RT-PCR and 6 patients (12.5%) were negative. In group 2, 7 patients (23%) had a positive viral load and 23 patients (77%) were negative. The psychophysical olfactory evaluation reported that anosmia and hyposmia occurred in 24 (52%) and 11 (24%) patients, respectively. Eleven patients were normosmic. The viral load was significantly higher in patients of group 1 compared with those of group 2.
Coronavirus disease 2019 was detected in a high proportion of ISOA patients, especially over the first 12 days of olfactory dysfunction. Anosmia is an important symptom to consider in the detection of COVID-19 infection.
通过鼻咽拭子进行逆转录-聚合酶链反应（RT-PCR）分析，调查初始突发嗅觉丧失（ISOA）患者的2019冠状病毒病（COVID-19）状况，并通过心理物理学嗅觉评估探索其嗅觉功能障碍。
2020年4月6日至2020年4月10日，通过比利时蒙斯大学的公开招募，共纳入78例ISOA患者。患者接受了鼻咽拭子检查并完成了患者报告结局问卷。其中，46例患者使用嗅觉识别测试进行了心理物理学嗅觉评估。根据ISOA的持续时间，将患者分为2组进行比较：嗅觉功能障碍持续时间≤12天的患者（第1组）和持续时间>12天的患者（第2组）。
在第1组中，42例患者（87.5%）经RT-PCR检测病毒载量为阳性，6例患者（12.5%）为阴性。在第2组中，7例患者（23%）病毒载量为阳性，23例患者（77%）为阴性。心理物理学嗅觉评估报告显示，分别有24例（52%）和11例（24%）患者出现嗅觉丧失和嗅觉减退。11例患者嗅觉正常。第1组患者的病毒载量显著高于第2组。
在高比例的ISOA患者中检测到2019冠状病毒病，尤其是在嗅觉功能障碍的前12天内。嗅觉丧失是COVID-19感染检测中需要考虑的重要症状。
