Evidence map›Paper›PMID 32870641›Full record

SynthesisACS chemical neuroscience2020

Prevalence of Chemosensory Dysfunction in COVID-19 Patients: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis Reveals Significant Ethnic Differences.

Christopher S von Bartheld, Molly M Hagen, Rafal Butowt

Open access · greenAbstract readMeta-AnalysisSystematic Review
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Synthesis in ACS chemical neuroscience, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 149 papers, 14 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
149citing papers in PubMed, 14 pooled it
15.5field-weighted citation impact, top 1% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

149 citing papers in PubMed, 14 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 263 citations in OpenAlex.

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  7. Systematic review and meta-analysis of olfactory and gustatory dysfunction in COVID-19.International journal of infectious diseases : IJID : official publication of the International Society for Infectious Diseases · 2022
    Pooled it
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  14. Guideline
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  18. Unique and shared patterns of chemosensory dysfunction distinguish chronic COVID-19 and aspirin-exacerbated respiratory disease.Annals of allergy, asthma & immunology : official publication of the American College of Allergy, Asthma, & Immunology · 2026
    Article
  19. Review
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89 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.

Christopher S von BartheldCenter of Biomedical Research Excellence in Cell Biology, University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine, Reno, Nevada 89557-0352, United States.ORCID 0000-0003-2716-6601
Molly M HagenSchool of Community Health Sciences, University of Nevada, Reno, Nevada 89557, United States.
Rafal ButowtDepartment of Molecular Cell Genetics and Department of Anatomy, L. Rydygier Collegium Medicum, Nicolaus Copernicus University, Bydgoszcz 85-094, Poland.ORCID 0000-0001-9614-4022
University of Nevada, Reno · USNicolaus Copernicus University · PL

Funding

Cell Biology of Signaling across MembranesP20GM103554 · NIGMS · UNIVERSITY OF NEVADA RENO · PI VON BARTHELD, CHRISTOPHER S · 2012 to 2016
$8.0M
NIGMS NIH HHS P20 GM103554
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

A significant proportion of people who test positive for COVID-19 have chemosensory deficits. However, the reported prevalence of these deficits in smell and taste varies widely, and the reason for the differences between studies is unclear. We determined the pooled prevalence of such chemosensory deficits in a systematic review and meta-analysis. We searched the COVID-19 portfolio of the National Institutes of Health for studies that reported the prevalence of smell or taste deficits or both in patients diagnosed with COVID-19. One-hundred-four studies reporting on 38 198 patients qualified and were subjected to a systematic review and meta-analysis. Estimated random prevalence of olfactory dysfunction was 43.0%, that of taste dysfunction was 44.6%, and that of overall chemosensory dysfunction was 47.4%. We examined the effects of age, gender, disease severity, and ethnicity on chemosensory dysfunction. Prevalence of smell or taste dysfunction or both decreased with older age, male gender, and disease severity. Ethnicity was highly significant: Caucasians had a three times higher prevalence of chemosensory dysfunctions (54.8%) than Asians (17.7%). The finding of geographic differences points to two causes that are not mutually exclusive. A virus mutation (D614G) may cause differing infectivity, while at the host level genetic, ethnicity-specific variants of the virus-binding entry proteins may facilitate virus entry in the olfactory epithelium and taste buds. Both explanations have major implications for infectivity, diagnosis, and management of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Indexed as

Age FactorsAngiotensin-Converting Enzyme 2Asian PeopleBetacoronavirusCoronavirus InfectionsCOVID-19EthnicityGenetic VariationHumansOlfaction DisordersPandemicsPeptidyl-Dipeptidase APneumonia, ViralPrevalenceSARS-CoV-2Serine EndopeptidasesACE2 protein, humanAngiotensin-Converting Enzyme 2Peptidyl-Dipeptidase ASerine EndopeptidasesTMPRSS2 protein, humananosmiaethnicityprevalenceSARS-CoV-2smelltaste

Identifiers

PMID32870641
PMCPMC7571048
OpenAlexW3082435779

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceTDM
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.