Recent smell loss is the best predictor of COVID-19 among individuals with recent respiratory symptoms
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Gerkin, Richard, C. | Ohla, Kathrin | Veldhuizen, Maria, G. | Joseph, Paule, V. | Kelly, Christine, E. | Bakke, Alyssa, J. | Steele, Kimberley, E. | Farruggia, Michael, C. | Pellegrino, Robert | Pepino, Marta, Y. | Bouysset, Cédric | Soler, Graciela, M. | Pereda-Loth, Veronica | Dibattista, Michele | Cooper, Keiland, W. | Croijmans, Ilja | Di Pizio, Antonella | Ozdener, Mehmet Hakan | Fjaeldstad, Alexander, W. | Lin, Cailu | Sandell, Mari, A. | Singh, Preet, B. | Brindha, Evelyn | Olsson, Shannon, B. | Saraiva, Luis, R. | Ahuja, Gaurav | Alwashahi, Mohammed, K. | Bhutani, Surabhi | D’errico, Anna | Fornazieri, Marco, A. | Golebiowski, Jérôme | Dar Hwang, Liang | Öztürk, Lina | Roura, Eugeni | Spinelli, Sara | Whitcroft, Katherine, L. | Faraji, Farhoud | Fischmeister, Florian, Ph. S. | Heinbockel, Thomas | Hsieh, Julien, W. | Huart, Caroline | Konstantinidis, Iordanis | Menini, Anna | Morini, Gabriella | Olofsson, Jonas, K. | Philpott, Carl, M. | Pierron, Denis | Shields, Vonnie, D. C. | Voznessenskaya, Vera, V. | Albayay, Javier | Altundag, Aytug | Bensafi, Moustafa | Bock, María Adelaida | Calcinoni, Orietta | Fredborg, William | Laudamiel, Christophe | Lim, Juyun | Lundström, Johan, N. | Macchi, Alberto | Meyer, Pablo | Moein, Shima, T. | Santamaría, Enrique | Sengupta, Debarka | Rohlfs Dominguez, Paloma | Yanik, Hüseyin | Hummel, Thomas | Hayes, John, E. | Reed, Danielle, R. | Niv, Masha, Y. | Munger, Steven, D. | Parma, Valentina | Boesveldt, Sanne | de Groot, Jasper, H. B. | Dinnella, Caterina | Freiherr, Jessica | Laktionova, Tatiana | Marino, Sajidxa | Monteleone, Erminio | Nunez-Parra, Alexia | Abdulrahman, Olagunju | Ritchie, Marina | Thomas-Danguin, Thierry | Walsh-Messinger, Julie | Al Abri, Rashid | Alizadeh, Rafieh | Bignon, Emmanuelle | Cantone, Elena | Paola Cecchini, Maria | Chen, Jingguo | Dolors Guàrdia, Maria | Hoover, Kara, C. | Karni, Noam | Navarro, Marta | Nolden, Alissa, A. | Portillo Mazal, Patricia | Rowan, Nicholas, R. | Sarabi-Jamab, Atiye | Archer, Nicholas, S. | Chen, Ben | Di Valerio, Elizabeth, A. | Feeney, Emma, L. | Frasnelli, Johannes | Hannum, Mackenzie, E | Hopkins, Claire | Klein, Hadar | Mignot, Coralie | Mucignat, Carla | Ning, Yuping | Ozturk, Elif, E. | Peng, Mei | Saatci, Ozlem | Sell, Elizabeth, A. | Yan, Carol, H. | Alfaro, Raul | Coureaud, G. | Herriman, Riley, D. | Justice, Jeb, M. | Kaushik, Pavan Kumar | Koyama, Sachiko | Overdevest, Jonathan, B. | Pirastu, Nicola | Ramirez, Vicente, A. | Roberts, S. Craig | Smith, Barry, C. | Cao, Hongyuan | Wang, Hong | Balungwe Birindwa, Patrick | Baguma, Marius | Ozdener, Mehmet, Hakan | Fischmeister, Florian, Ph.S | Bock, María, Adelaida | Kaushik, Pavan, Kumar | Pizio, Antonella, Di | Hakan Ozdener, Mehmet | d'Errico, Anna | Hwang, Liang Dar | Group, Gccr | Cecchini, Maria, Paola | Briand, Loïc | Nicklaus, Sophie | Sinding, Charlotte | Tromelin, Anne
Edité par
CCSD ; Oxford University Press (OUP) -
International audience.
In a preregistered, cross-sectional study, we investigated whether olfactory loss is a reliable predictor of COVID-19 using a crowdsourced questionnaire in 23 languages to assess symptoms in individuals self-reporting recent respiratory illness. We quantified changes in chemosensory abilities during the course of the respiratory illness using 0–100 visual analog scales (VAS) for participants reporting a positive (C19+; n = 4148) or negative (C19−; n = 546) COVID-19 laboratory test outcome. Logistic regression models identified univariate and multivariate predictors of COVID-19 status and post-COVID-19 olfactory recovery. Both C19+ and C19− groups exhibited smell loss, but it was significantly larger in C19+ participants (mean ± SD, C19+: −82.5 ± 27.2 points; C19−: −59.8 ± 37.7). Smell loss during illness was the best predictor of COVID-19 in both univariate and multivariate models (ROC AUC = 0.72). Additional variables provide negligible model improvement. VAS ratings of smell loss were more predictive than binary chemosensory yes/no-questions or other cardinal symptoms (e.g., fever). Olfactory recovery within 40 days of respiratory symptom onset was reported for ~50% of participants and was best predicted by time since respiratory symptom onset. We find that quantified smell loss is the best predictor of COVID-19 amongst those with symptoms of respiratory illness. To aid clinicians and contact tracers in identifying individuals with a high likelihood of having COVID-19, we propose a novel 0–10 scale to screen for recent olfactory loss, the ODoR-19. We find that numeric ratings ≤2 indicate high odds of symptomatic COVID-19 (4 < OR < 10). Once independently validated, this tool could be deployed when viral lab tests are impractical or unavailable.
