The taste of the pandemic-contemporary review on the current state of research on gustation in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).
Constantin A HintschichMasha Y NivThomas HummelPublished in: International forum of allergy & rhinology (2021)
Subjectively perceived impairment of taste is a common and distinct symptom of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Large meta-analyses identified this symptom in approximately 50% of cases. However, this high prevalence is not supported by blinded and validated psychophysical gustatory testing, which showed a much lower prevalence in up to 26% of patients. This discrepancy may be due to misinterpretation of impaired retronasal olfaction as gustatory dysfunction. In addition, we hypothesized that COVID-19-associated hyposmia is involved in the decrease of gustatory function, as found for hyposmia of different origin. This indirect mechanism would be based on the central-nervous mutual amplification between the chemical senses, which fails in COVID-19-associated olfactory loss. However, further research is necessary on how severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) may directly impair the gustatory pathway as well as its subjective perception.
Keyphrases
- coronavirus disease
- respiratory syndrome coronavirus
- sars cov
- end stage renal disease
- meta analyses
- systematic review
- risk factors
- ejection fraction
- physical activity
- newly diagnosed
- patient reported
- study protocol
- depressive symptoms
- peritoneal dialysis
- oxidative stress
- sleep quality
- prognostic factors
- social support
- patient reported outcomes
- placebo controlled
- double blind