Taste and smell as chemosensory dysfunctions in COVID-19 infection

Pier Carmine Passarelli; Michele Antonio Lopez; Giuseppe Niccolò Mastandrea Bonaviri; Franklin Garcia-Godoy; Antonio D'Addona

Taste and smell as chemosensory dysfunctions in COVID-19 infection

Am J Dent. 2020 Jun;33(3):135-137.

Authors

Pier Carmine Passarelli¹, Michele Antonio Lopez², Giuseppe Niccolò Mastandrea Bonaviri³, Franklin Garcia-Godoy^{4

5}, Antonio D'Addona⁶

Affiliations

¹ Department of Head and Neck, Division of Oral Surgery and Implantology, Institute of Clinical Dentistry, Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, Gemelli Foundation for the University Policlinic, Rome, Italy, piercarmine.passarelli@unicatt.it.
² Faculty of Medicine and Surgery, Bio-Medical University Campus, Rome, Italy.
³ Faculty of Medicine and Surgery, Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, Gemelli Foundation for the University Policlinic, Rome, Italy.
⁴ Bioscience Research Center, College of Dentistry, University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis, Tennessee, USA.
⁵ The Forsyth Institute, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA.
⁶ Department of Head and Neck, Division of Oral Surgery and Implantology, Institute of Clinical Dentistry, Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, Gemelli Foundation for the University Policlinic, Rome, Italy.

PMID: 32470238

Abstract

Purpose: To review the literature on the presence of two clinical manifestations in patients presenting COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2) infection: loss of taste (ageusia) and loss of smell (anosmia).

Methods: PubMed and EMBASE were searched and studies were selected starting from November, 2019 until April 2020; also, the references of the selected articles were evaluated for methodological quality.

Results: Of the 19 studies analyzed, five were included to evaluate the presence of ageusia and/or anosmia as symptoms in patients who were tested and resulted positive for the SARS-CoV-2 virus. In a total of 10,818 patients, 8,823 presented ageusia (81.6%; range 5.6%-88%) and 8,088 presented anosmia (74.8%; range 5.1-85.6%). Only one study recorded both symptoms with a percentage of 18.6%.

Clinical significance: This systematic review demonstrated significant presence of ageusia and anosmia in the patients with COVID-19 infection. These symptoms may be considered as the first manifestation of the infection.

Publication types

Review
Systematic Review

MeSH terms

Betacoronavirus
COVID-19
Coronavirus Infections*
Humans
Olfaction Disorders* / virology
Pandemics
Pneumonia, Viral*
SARS-CoV-2
Smell*
Taste
Taste Disorders* / virology