Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seongnam, Korea.
Interdisciplinary Program of Medical Informatics, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
J Korean Med Sci. 2021 Jan 25;36(4):e40. doi: 10.3346/jkms.2021.36.e40.
Olfactory and gustatory dysfunction are frequently reported in patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). However, the reported prevalence of olfactory and/or gustatory dysfunction varies widely, and the reason for the inter-study differences is unclear. Hence, in this meta-analysis, we performed subgroup analyses to investigate the factors that contribute to the inter-study variability in the prevalence of olfactory and gustatory dysfunction.
Out of 943 citations, we included 55 eligible studies with 13,527 patients with COVID-19 for a meta-analysis. Calculating the data extracted from each study, the weighted summary prevalence of olfactory and gustatory dysfunction was estimated using a Freeman-Tukey transformation with models based on random-effects assumptions. A meta-analysis of variance compared the prevalence of olfactory and gustatory dysfunction according to regional, chronological, demographic, and methodologic factors, respectively.
The overall pooled prevalence rates of olfactory and gustatory dysfunction were 51.4% and 47.5%, respectively, in the random-effect model. In subgroup analyses, the prevalence rates of olfactory and gustatory dysfunction were significantly different among four geographical regions (both < 0.001, respectively). Although the prevalence rates of olfactory and gustatory dysfunction did not significantly differ according to the time of enrollment, the subgroup analyses including only studies from the same geographical region (Europe) revealed a significant difference in olfactory dysfunction according to the time of enrollment.
The regional and chronological differences in the prevalence rates of olfactory and gustatory dysfunctions partly explain the wide inter-study variability.
嗅觉和味觉功能障碍在新型冠状病毒病 2019（COVID-19）患者中经常被报道。然而，报道的嗅觉和/或味觉功能障碍的患病率差异很大，且造成这种研究间差异的原因尚不清楚。因此，在本次荟萃分析中，我们进行了亚组分析，以调查导致嗅觉和味觉功能障碍患病率研究间差异的因素。
在 943 篇引文 中，我们纳入了 55 项符合条件的研究，共纳入了 13527 例 COVID-19 患者进行荟萃分析。从每项研究中提取数据，采用基于随机效应假设的模型，通过 Freeman-Tukey 变换计算，估计嗅觉和味觉功能障碍的加权汇总患病率。采用方差分析比较了根据地域、时间、人口统计学和方法学因素的嗅觉和味觉功能障碍的患病率。
在随机效应模型中，嗅觉和味觉功能障碍的总体汇总患病率分别为 51.4%和 47.5%。在亚组分析中，嗅觉和味觉功能障碍的患病率在四个地理区域之间存在显著差异（均<0.001）。尽管嗅觉和味觉功能障碍的患病率与纳入时间无显著差异，但仅纳入来自同一地理区域（欧洲）的研究的亚组分析显示，嗅觉功能障碍根据纳入时间存在显著差异。
嗅觉和味觉功能障碍的患病率存在地域和时间差异，部分解释了研究间的广泛变异性。
