• Chin-Chuan Chang, Ming-Hui Yang, Shu-Min Chang, Ya-Ju Hsieh, Che-Hsin Lee, ChenYi-Ming ArthurYAGraduate Institute of Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Science, Fu Jen Catholic University, New Taipei City, Taiwan, ROC.National Institute of Infectious Diseases and Vaccinology, National Health Research Institutes, Miaoli, Taiwan, ROC., Cheng-Hui Yuan, Yi-Ling Chen, Sheng-Yow Ho, and Yu-Chang Tyan.
• Department of Nuclear Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital, Kaohsiung, Taiwan, ROC.
• J Chin Med Assoc. 2021 Jul 1; 84 (7): 682689682-689.

BackgroundCurrently, as the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has become a pandemic, rapidly obtaining accurate information of patient symptoms and their progression is crucial and vital. Although the early studies in China have illustrated that the representative symptoms of COVID-19 include (dry) cough, fever, headache, fatigue, gastrointestinal discomfort, dyspnea, and muscle pain, there is increasing evidence to suggest that olfactory and taste disorder are related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, we conduct this study to review the present literature about the correlation between anosmia or dysgeusia and COVID-19.MethodsA comprehensive literature search in 2020 of the electronic journal databases, mainly PubMed or Web of Science, was performed using the keywords COVID-19 or severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), with hyposmia, anosmia, dysgeusia, olfactory disorder, or olfactory dysfunction. The country, study period, case number, inpatient or outpatient medical visit, evaluation method (subjective complaints of dysfunction or objective evaluation), and occurrence rate of olfactory or gustatory function were reviewed.ResultsMany studies reported that the recoverable olfactory or gustatory dysfunction may play an important role as the early clinical symptom of COVID-19. It is associated with better prognosis, although further investigation and validation should be carried out.ConclusionStudies have shown that smell and taste disturbances may represent an early symptom of COVID-19 and healthcare professionals must be very vigilant when managing patients with these symptoms. In the pandemic era, this implies testing for COVID-19 by healthcare workers with full personal protective equipment.Copyright © 2021, the Chinese Medical Association.

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