Less is More: COVID-19 Illness Severity Negatively Related to Smell and Taste Loss
Summary
Smell and taste loss as symptoms of COVID-19 have taken center stage in the study of the disease as more and more research confirmed its important role as a predictor of infection. This study builds upon the work of Yan, Faraji, Prajapati, Ostrander, & Deconde (2020b), who reported a connection between the severity of COVID-19 patients’ clinical course, and the presence of anosmia and dysgeusia. The purpose was to investigate the relationship on a larger sample, discover how the two symptoms are connected to the others, and find out which symptoms tend to occur alongside with smell and taste loss. This knowledge may aid clinicians in accurately diagnosing COVID-19 and estimating a prognosis. The data used in this study was from Dutch responses to a questionnaire produced by the Global Consortium of Chemosensory Research (GCCR), which conducts an international study of changes in smell, taste, and chemesthesis in COVID-19 (https://gcchemosensr.org/). Results of analyses indicated a significantly higher reported smell loss in respondents with a mild clinical course. Nose blockage was found to have no influence on clinical course severity. Exploratory network analysis revealed thematic grouping in COVID-19 symptoms, and a disconnection of smell loss and taste loss from the rest of the symptoms. These results confirm the relationship between smell loss and illness severity outlined by Yan et al (2020b), but a proper investigation of the entire range of illness severity with robust clinical measurements is warranted to produce conclusions which might inform medical decision-making and diagnostics.