PREDICTIVE VALUE OF SMELL AND TASTE TEST VS PCR-RT SARS-COV-2 AND RAPID DIAGNOSTIC TESTS IN THE DIAGNOSIS OF INFECTION BY COVID-19. A PROSPECTIVE MULTI-CENTRIC STUDY

  1. Pieruzzini Rosalinda
  2. Ayala-Grosso Carlos
  3. Navas José de Jesús
  4. Rodríguez Wilneg Carolina
  5. Parra Nathalia
  6. Luque Emily
  7. Sánchez Gago Aida
  8. González Scarleth
  9. Hagobian Alexandra
  10. Grullón Angeline
  11. Díaz Karen
  12. Morales Mariano
  13. De Jesús Melanie
  14. Peña Sonia
  15. Rodríguez Luis
  16. Peña Luis Lenin
  17. Asaro Ana
  18. Magris Magda

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Abstract

There is a relationship between smell and taste disturbances and coronavirus infection. These symptoms have been considered the best predictor of coronavirus infection, for this reason, it was decided to evaluate the predictive value of the smell and taste test and its association with the results of SARS-CoV-2 PCR-RT and rapid diagnostic tests. in the diagnosis of pathology. Methodology: 248 patients divided into 3 groups: asymptomatic, symptomatic without chemosensory disorders, and chemosensory disorders alone. All of them underwent SARS-CoV-2 PCR-RT, a rapid diagnostic test and a test of Venezuelan smell and basic taste at the beginning. Weekly follow-up with smell and taste test and SARS-CoV-2 PCR-RT until recovery. Results: 20.56% of patients had smell and taste disorders to a variable degree and were positive by SARS-CoV-PCR-RT. 2.15.3% of patients with chemosensory disorders were negative for COVID-19. The positive predictive value of the smell and taste test was 57.3; Sensitivity 41.13% and specificity 69.35%. There were no statistically significant differences by age, sex and chemosensory disorders. The predominant chemosensory disorder was the combination of mild hyposmia and hypogeusia and appeared in the company of other symptoms. Recovery occurred in an average of 8.5 days, asynchronously with the SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR negativization, which occurred up to more than 15 days after the senses recovered. Maximum time of negativization of the RT-PCR of 34 days. Conclusion: chemosensory disorders are a symptom and / or sign of coronavirus disease but cannot be considered as predictors of said disease in this population studied. The gold standard remains the SARS-CoV-2 PCR-RT test. Rapid diagnostic tests should be used for follow-up. Recommendations: it is necessary to expand the sample, include routine psychophysical smell and taste tests to screen cases and take race and virus mutations into consideration to explain behavior in certain populations.

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    SciScore for 10.1101/2020.08.31.20185298: (What is this?)

    Please note, not all rigor criteria are appropriate for all manuscripts.

    Table 1: Rigor

    Institutional Review Board StatementConsent: Of these, the individuals who gave their informed consent to participate in the study were selected and excluded: a. patients with acute or chronic rhinosinusitis, allergic rhinitis, obstructive rhinopathy previously known to the patient; b. patients with a history of exposure to toxic, irritating chemicals that cause alterations in the smell and taste and; c. patients with diabetic neuropathy of more than 1 year of evolution.
    Randomizationnot detected.
    Blindingnot detected.
    Power Analysisnot detected.
    Sex as a biological variablenot detected.

    Table 2: Resources

    No key resources detected.

    Results from OddPub: We did not detect open data. We also did not detect open code. Researchers are encouraged to share open data when possible (see Nature blog).

    Results from LimitationRecognizer: An explicit section about the limitations of the techniques employed in this study was not found. We encourage authors to address study limitations.

    Results from TrialIdentifier: No clinical trial numbers were referenced.

    Results from Barzooka: We did not find any issues relating to the usage of bar graphs.

    Results from JetFighter: We did not find any issues relating to colormaps.

    Results from rtransparent:
    • Thank you for including a conflict of interest statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
    • Thank you for including a funding statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
    • No protocol registration statement was detected.

    About SciScore

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  2. Version published to 10.1101/2020.08.31.20185298v1 on medRxiv