Long COVID, Audiovestibular Symptoms and Persistent Chemosensory Dysfunction: a Systematic Review of the Current Evidence

Overview

Journal Acta Otorhinolaryngol Ital

Specialty Otorhinolaryngology

Date 2022 Jun 28

PMID 35763279

Authors

Pietro De Luca

Arianna Di Stadio

Vito Colacurcio

Pasquale Marra

Alfonso Scarpa

Filippo Ricciardiello

Claudia Cassandro

Angelo Camaioni

Ettore Cassandro

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Objective: The persistence of auditory, vestibular, olfactory, and gustatory dysfunction for an extended time after COVID-19 has been documented, which represents an emerging challenge of which ENT specialists must be aware. This systematic review aims to evaluate the prevalence of persistent audiovestibolar and olfactory/gustatory symptoms in patients with "long-COVID".

Methods: The literature was systematically reviewed according to PRISMA guidelines; PubMed, Scopus and Google Scholar were screened by searching articles on audiovestibular symptoms and olfactory/gustatory dysfunction after SARS-CoV-2 infection. The keywords used were hearing loss, tinnitus, vertigo, smell disorders, parosmia, anosmia, hyposmia, dysgeusia combined with COVID-19 or SARS-CoV-2.

Results: 1100 articles were identified. After removal of duplicates (382), 702 articles were excluded, and 16 were included in the systematic review. All articles included identified an association between SARS-CoV-2 infection and persistent hearing or chemosensory impairment. The studies were published over a period of 2 years, between 2019 and 2021.

Conclusions: The likelihood of patients with persistent audiovestibular symptoms related to COVID-19 was different among the articles; however, olfactory and gustatory disturbances were more consistently reported. Studies with longer follow-up are required to fully evaluate the long-term impact of these conditions.

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