Sensory & Consumer Science Lab (SCS_Lab), Department of Food, Environmental and Nutritional Sciences (DeFENS), University of Milan, 20133, Milan, Italy.
International Center for the Assessment of Nutritional Status (ICANS), Department of Food, Environmental and Nutritional Sciences (DeFENS), University of Milan, 20133, Milan, Italy.
Sci Rep. 2022 May 17;12(1):8192. doi: 10.1038/s41598-022-11864-8.
The main aim of the present study was to psychophysically evaluate smell and taste functions in hospitalized COVID-19 patients and to compare those results with a group of healthy subjects. Another aim of the study was to assess the relationship of changes in patients' smell and taste functions with a number of clinical parameters, symptoms, and other physiological signs as well as with severity of disease. Olfactory and gustatory functions were tested in 61 hospitalized patients positive for SARS-CoV-2 infection and in a control group of 54 healthy individuals. Overall, we found a significant impairment of olfactory and gustatory functions in COVID-19 patients compared with the control group. Indeed, about 45% of patients self-reported complaints about or loss of either olfactory or gustatory functions. These results were confirmed by psychophysical testing, which showed a significantly reduced performance in terms of intensity perception and identification ability for both taste and smell functions in COVID-19 patients. Furthermore, gustatory and olfactory impairments tended to be more evident in male patients suffering from more severe respiratory failure (i.e., pneumonia with need of respiratory support need during hospitalization).
本研究的主要目的是通过心理生理学评估住院 COVID-19 患者的嗅觉和味觉功能，并将这些结果与一组健康受试者进行比较。研究的另一个目的是评估患者嗅觉和味觉功能的变化与许多临床参数、症状和其他生理迹象以及疾病严重程度的关系。我们对 61 名 SARS-CoV-2 感染阳性的住院患者和 54 名健康个体的对照组进行了嗅觉和味觉功能测试。总的来说，与对照组相比，COVID-19 患者的嗅觉和味觉功能明显受损。事实上，大约 45%的患者自述有嗅觉或味觉功能障碍或丧失。这些结果通过心理生理学测试得到了证实，该测试显示 COVID-19 患者在味觉和嗅觉功能的强度感知和识别能力方面表现出显著降低。此外，味觉和嗅觉障碍在呼吸衰竭（即住院期间需要呼吸支持的肺炎）更严重的男性患者中更为明显。
