Relationship Between Odor Intensity Estimates and COVID-19 Prevalence Prediction in a Swedish Population

Abstract In response to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, countries have implemented various strategies to reduce and slow the spread of the disease in the general population. For countries that have implemented restrictions on its population in a stepwise manner, monitoring of COVID...

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Veröffentlicht in:Chemical senses 2020-05, Vol.45 (6), p.449-456
Hauptverfasser: Iravani, Behzad, Arshamian, Artin, Ravia, Aharon, Mishor, Eva, Snitz, Kobi, Shushan, Sagit, Roth, Yehudah, Perl, Ofer, Honigstein, Danielle, Weissgross, Reut, Karagach, Shiri, Ernst, Gernot, Okamoto, Masako, Mainen, Zachary, Monteleone, Erminio, Dinnella, Caterina, Spinelli, Sara, Mariño-Sánchez, Franklin, Ferdenzi, Camille, Smeets, Monique, Touhara, Kazushige, Bensafi, Moustafa, Hummel, Thomas, Sobel, Noam, Lundström, Johan N
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Sprache:eng
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Zusammenfassung:Abstract In response to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, countries have implemented various strategies to reduce and slow the spread of the disease in the general population. For countries that have implemented restrictions on its population in a stepwise manner, monitoring of COVID-19 prevalence is of importance to guide the decision on when to impose new, or when to abolish old, restrictions. We are here determining whether measures of odor intensity in a large sample can serve as one such measure. Online measures of how intense common household odors are perceived and symptoms of COVID-19 were collected from 2440 Swedes. Average odor intensity ratings were then compared to predicted COVID-19 population prevalence over time in the Swedish population and were found to closely track each other (r = −0.83). Moreover, we found that there was a large difference in rated intensity between individuals with and without COVID-19 symptoms and the number of symptoms was related to odor intensity ratings. Finally, we found that individuals progressing from reporting no symptoms to subsequently reporting COVID-19 symptoms demonstrated a large drop in olfactory performance. These data suggest that measures of odor intensity, if obtained in a large and representative sample, can be used as an indicator of COVID-19 disease in the general population. Importantly, this simple measure could easily be implemented in countries without widespread access to COVID-19 testing or implemented as a fast early response before widespread testing can be facilitated.
ISSN:0379-864X
1464-3553
1464-3553
DOI:10.1093/chemse/bjaa034