SynthesisChemical senses2022
Taste loss as a distinct symptom of COVID-19: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
Synthesis in Chemical senses, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It has been retracted, and should not be counted. Cited by 37 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled 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.
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.
Who cites it
37 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 52 citations in OpenAlex.
- Oral manifestations of COVID-19 and its management in pediatric patients: A systematic review and practical guideline.Clinical and experimental dental research · 2023Pooled it
- A systematic review of the biological mediators of fat taste and smell.Physiological reviews · 2023Pooled it
- Delayed Facial Nerve Palsy after Vestibular Schwannoma Surgery in the COVID-19 Pandemic.International archives of otorhinolaryngology · 2026Article
- Risk factors for dyseugia during chemotherapy in breast cancer women: A cohort STROBE-guided.Journal of clinical and experimental dentistry · 2026Review
- Challenges to continuity of care among patients with long COVID-related taste and smell disorders: a qualitative study.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- Life Satisfaction Among Cancer Survivors With and Without Smell and Taste Dysfunction: Evidence from the National Health Interview Survey.medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences · 2025Article
- Genetic Variations in Bitter Taste Receptors and COVID-19 in the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging.Biomedicines · 2025Article
- Self-Administered Taste Testing Without Water: Normative Data for the 53-Item Waterless Empirical Taste Test (WETT).International forum of allergy & rhinology · 2025Article
- Home screening of taste and oral trigeminal function: a feasibility study.European archives of oto-rhino-laryngology : official journal of the European Federation of Oto-Rhino-Laryngological Societies (EUFOS) : affiliated with the German Society for Oto-Rhino-Laryngology - Head and Neck Surgery · 2024Article
- Worldwide study of the taste of bitter medicines and their modifiers.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2024Article
- Living and Coping with Olfactory and Taste Disorders: A Qualitative Study of People with Long-COVID-19.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Impacts of COVID-19 on Food Choices and Eating Behavior among New Zealand University Students.Foods (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Post-COVID-19 patients suffer from chemosensory, trigeminal, and salivary dysfunctions.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Performance and explainability of feature selection-boosted tree-based classifiers for COVID-19 detection.Heliyon · 2024Article
- Determining the sweet detection threshold of COVID-19 patients during infection and recovery periods.PloS one · 2024Article
- COVID-19 on Oral Health: A New Bilateral Connection for the Pandemic.Biomedicines · 2023Review
- Article
- Evaluation of children and adults with post-COVID-19 persistent smell, taste and trigeminal chemosensory disorders: A hospital based study.World journal of clinical pediatrics · 2023Article
- The effects of contemporaneous air pollution on COVID-19 morbidity and mortality.Journal of environmental economics and management · 2023Article
- Early Steps towards Hearing: Placodes and Sensory Development.International journal of molecular sciences · 2023Review
Corrections and comments
- Expression of concern · 2023-06-21Concerns/Issues about Data · Concerns/Issues about Results and/or Conclusions · Updated to Retraction ·
- Retraction · 2023-12-15Concerns/Issues about Data · Concerns/Issues about Results and/or Conclusions · Investigation by Journal/Publisher · Notice - Limited or No Information · Retract and Replace · Upgrade/Update of Prior Notice(s) · · see https://academic.oup.com/chemse/article-abstract/doi/10.1093/chemse/bjad043/7471469?redirectedFrom=fulltext
- Commented on by
- Erratum issued
- Expression of concern
- Retracted
- Update of
Authors and funding
9 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Chemosensory scientists have been skeptical that reports of COVID-19 taste loss are genuine, in part because before COVID-19 taste loss was rare and often confused with smell loss. Therefore, to establish the predicted prevalence rate of taste loss in COVID-19 patients, we conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of 376 papers published in 2020-2021, with 241 meeting all inclusion criteria. Drawing on previous studies and guided by early meta-analyses, we explored how methodological differences (direct vs. self-report measures) may affect these estimates. We hypothesized that direct measures of taste are at least as sensitive as those obtained by self-report and that the preponderance of evidence confirms taste loss is a symptom of COVID-19. The meta-analysis showed that, among 138,897 COVID-19-positive patients, 39.2% reported taste dysfunction (95% confidence interval: 35.34%-43.12%), and the prevalence estimates were slightly but not significantly higher from studies using direct (n = 18) versus self-report (n = 223) methodologies (Q = 0.57, df = 1, P = 0.45). Generally, males reported lower rates of taste loss than did females, and taste loss was highest among middle-aged adults. Thus, taste loss is likely a bona fide symptom of COVID-19, meriting further research into the most appropriate direct methods to measure it and its underlying mechanisms.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
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.