Department of Anatomy, Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières, Trois-Rivières, QC, Canada.
Faculty of Medicine, Université de Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada.
Chem Senses. 2022 Jan 1;47. doi: 10.1093/chemse/bjac010.
Olfactory and gustatory dysfunctions (OD, GD) are prevalent symptoms following COVID-19 and persist in 6%-44% of individuals post-infection. As only few reports have described their prognosis after 6 months, our main objective was to assess the prevalence of OD and GD 11-month post-COVID-19. We also aimed to determine intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC) of chemosensory self-ratings for the follow-up of chemosensory sensitivity. We designed an observational study and distributed an online questionnaire assessing chemosensory function to healthcare workers with a RT-PCR-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection 5- and 11-month post-COVID-19. Specifically, we assessed olfaction, gustation, and trigeminal sensitivity (10-point visual analog scale) and function (4-point Likert scale). We further measured clinically relevant OD using the Chemosensory Perception Test, a psychophysical test designed to provide a reliable remote olfactory evaluation. We included a total of 366 participants (mean [SD] age of 44.8 (11.7) years old). They completed the last online questionnaire 10.6 months (0.7) after the onset of COVID-19 symptoms. Of all participants, 307 (83.9%) and 301 (82.2%) individuals retrospectively reported lower olfactory or gustatory sensitivity during the acute phase of COVID-19. At the time of evaluation, 184 (50.3%) and 163 (44.5%) indicated reduced chemosensory sensitivity, 32.2% reported impairment of olfactory function while 24.9% exhibited clinically relevant OD. Olfactory sensitivity had a high test-retest reliability (ICC: 0.818; 95% CI: 0.760-0.860). This study suggests that chemosensory dysfunctions persist in a third of COVID-19 patients 11 months after COVID-19. OD appears to be a common symptom of post-COVID-19 important to consider when treating patients.
嗅觉和味觉障碍（OD，GD）是 COVID-19 后的常见症状，感染后 6%-44%的个体持续存在。由于只有少数报告描述了感染后 6 个月的预后，我们的主要目的是评估 COVID-19 后 11 个月 OD 和 GD 的患病率。我们还旨在确定化学感觉自我评分的组内相关系数（ICC），以用于化学感觉敏感性的随访。我们设计了一项观察性研究，并在 COVID-19 后 5 个月和 11 个月时，向经 RT-PCR 确诊的 SARS-CoV-2 感染的医护人员分发了一份在线问卷调查表，评估化学感觉功能。具体而言，我们评估了嗅觉、味觉和三叉神经敏感性（10 点视觉模拟量表）和功能（4 点李克特量表）。我们还使用化学感觉感知测试（一种旨在提供可靠远程嗅觉评估的心理物理测试）测量了临床上相关的 OD。我们共纳入了 366 名参与者（平均[标准差]年龄为 44.8[11.7]岁）。他们在 COVID-19 症状发作后 10.6 个月（0.7）完成了最后一次在线问卷调查。所有参与者中，307（83.9%）和 301（82.2%）人在 COVID-19 急性阶段报告嗅觉或味觉敏感性降低。在评估时，184（50.3%）和 163（44.5%）人表示化学感觉敏感性降低，32.2%报告嗅觉功能障碍，24.9%表现出临床上相关的 OD。嗅觉敏感性具有较高的测试-重测可靠性（ICC：0.818；95%CI：0.760-0.860）。这项研究表明，COVID-19 后 11 个月，三分之一的 COVID-19 患者仍存在化学感觉障碍。OD 似乎是 COVID-19 后常见的症状，在治疗患者时值得考虑。
