Self-reported loss of smell without nasal obstruction to identify COVID-19. The multicenter Coranosmia cohort study.

To determine the frequency of SARS-CoV-2 positive samples in a subset of patients consulting for primarily isolated acute (<7 days) loss of smell and to assess the diagnostic accuracy of olfactory/gustatory dysfunction for COVID-19 diagnosis in the overall population tested for COVID-19 in the same period. Prospective multicentric cohort study in four olfactory ENT units and a screening center for COVID-19. i) Among a subset of 55 patients consulting for primarily recent loss of smell, we found that 51 (92.7%) had a COVID-19 positive test (median viral load of 28.8 cycle threshold). Loss of smell was mostly total (anosmia), rarely associated with nasal obstruction but associated with a taste disorder in 80%. Olfactory dysfunction occurred suddenly, either as first complaint or preceded by mild symptoms occurring a median of 3 days. The majority of patients (72.9%) partially recovered the sense of smell within 15 days. ii) In a population of 1824 patients tested for COVID-19, the positive predictive value and the specificity of loss of smell and/or taste were 78.5% and 90.3% respectively (sensitivity (40.8%), negative predictive value (63.6%)). Self-reported loss of smell had a high predictive positive value to identify COVID-19. Making this sign well known publicly could help to adopt isolation measures and inform potential contacts.

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Déclaration de conflit d'intérêts

Declaration of Competing Interest All the authors have read and agreed with the paper's content. No authors have financial or personal conflicts. Neither the work nor any part of its essential substance, tables or figures have been or will be published or submitted to another scientific journal or are being considered for publication elsewhere.