Ethyl alcohol threshold test: a fast, reliable and affordable olfactory Assessment tool for COVID-19 patients.
Eur Arch Otorhinolaryngol
; 277(10): 2783-2792, 2020 Oct.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-32583183
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE:
COVID-19 patients may present mild symptoms. The identification of paucisymptomatic patients is paramount in order to interrupt the transmission chain of the virus. Olfactory loss could be one of those early symptoms which might help in the diagnosis of COVID-19 patients. In this study, we aim to develop and validate a fast, inexpensive, reliable and easy-to-perform olfactory test for the screening of suspected COVID-19 patients. STUDYDESIGN:
Phase I was a case-control study and Phase II a transversal descriptive study. SUBJECTS ANDMETHODS:
Olfaction was assessed with the ethyl alcohol threshold test and symptoms with visual analogue scales. The study was designed in two phases In Phase I, we compared confirmed COVID-19 patients and healthy controls. In Phase II, patients with suspected COVID-19 infection referred for testing were studied.RESULTS:
275 participants were included in Phase I, 135 in Phase II. The ROC curve showed an AUC of 0.749 in Phase I, 0.737 in Phase II. The cutoff value which offered the highest amount of correctly classified patients was ≥ 2 (10% alcohol) for all age intervals. The odds ratio was 8.19 in Phase I, 6.56 in Phase II with a 75% sensitivity. When cases report normal sense of smell (VAS < 4), it misdiagnoses 57.89% of patients detected by the alcohol threshold test.CONCLUSION:
The olfactory loss assessed with the alcohol threshold test has shown high sensitivity and odds ratio in both patients with confirmed COVID-19 illness and participants with suspected SARS-CoV-2 infection.Palavras-chave
Texto completo:
1
Coleções:
01-internacional
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Pneumonia Viral
/
Infecções por Coronavirus
/
Etanol
/
Betacoronavirus
/
Transtornos do Olfato
Tipo de estudo:
Etiology_studies
/
Health_economic_evaluation
/
Observational_studies
/
Prognostic_studies
/
Risk_factors_studies
Limite:
Adult
/
Aged
/
Aged80
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
/
Middle aged
Idioma:
En
Ano de publicação:
2020
Tipo de documento:
Article