An olfactory self-test effectively screens for COVID-19

K. Snitz; D. Honigstein; R. Weissgross; A. Ravia; E. Mishor; O. Perl; S. Karagach; A. Medhanie; N. Harel; S. Shushan; Y. Roth; B. Iravani; A. Arshamian; G. Ernst; M. Okamoto; C. Poo; N. Bonacchi; Z. Mainen; E. Monteleone; C. Dinnella; S. Spinelli; F. Mariño-Sánchez; C. Ferdenzi; M.A.M. Smeets; K. Touhara; M. Bensafi; T. Hummel; J.N. Lundström; N. Sobel

doi:10.1038/s43856-022-00095-7

An olfactory self-test effectively screens for COVID-19

K. Snitz, D. Honigstein, R. Weissgross, A. Ravia, E. Mishor, O. Perl, S. Karagach, A. Medhanie, N. Harel, S. Shushan, Y. Roth, B. Iravani, A. Arshamian, G. Ernst, M. Okamoto, C. Poo, N. Bonacchi, Z. Mainen, E. Monteleone, C. DinnellaS. Spinelli, F. Mariño-Sánchez, C. Ferdenzi, M.A.M. Smeets, K. Touhara, M. Bensafi, T. Hummel, J.N. Lundström, N. Sobel

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Academic › peer-review

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Key to curtailing the COVID-19 pandemic are wide-scale screening strategies. An ideal screen is one that would not rely on transporting, distributing, and collecting physical specimens. Given the olfactory impairment associated with COVID-19, we developed a perceptual measure of olfaction that relies on smelling household odorants and rating them online.

METHODS: Each participant was instructed to select 5 household items, and rate their perceived odor pleasantness and intensity using an online visual analogue scale. We used this data to assign an olfactory perceptual fingerprint, a value that reflects the perceived difference between odorants. We tested the performance of this real-time tool in a total of 13,484 participants (462 COVID-19 positive) from 134 countries who provided 178,820 perceptual ratings of 60 different household odorants.

RESULTS: We observe that olfactory ratings are indicative of COVID-19 status in a country, significantly correlating with national infection rates over time. More importantly, we observe indicative power at the individual level (79% sensitivity and 87% specificity). Critically, this olfactory screen remains effective in participants with COVID-19 but without symptoms, and in participants with symptoms but without COVID-19.

CONCLUSIONS: The current odorant-based olfactory screen adds a component to online symptom-checkers, to potentially provide an added first line of defense that can help fight disease progression at the population level. The data derived from this tool may allow better understanding of the link between COVID-19 and olfaction.

Original language	English
Article number	34
Pages (from-to)	1-12
Journal	Communications medicine
Volume	2
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/s43856-022-00095-7
Publication status	Published - 5 Apr 2022

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Snitz, K., Honigstein, D., Weissgross, R., Ravia, A., Mishor, E., Perl, O., Karagach, S., Medhanie, A., Harel, N., Shushan, S., Roth, Y., Iravani, B., Arshamian, A., Ernst, G., Okamoto, M., Poo, C., Bonacchi, N., Mainen, Z., Monteleone, E., ... Sobel, N. (2022). An olfactory self-test effectively screens for COVID-19. Communications medicine, 2, 1-12. Article 34. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43856-022-00095-7

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title = "An olfactory self-test effectively screens for COVID-19",

abstract = "BACKGROUND: Key to curtailing the COVID-19 pandemic are wide-scale screening strategies. An ideal screen is one that would not rely on transporting, distributing, and collecting physical specimens. Given the olfactory impairment associated with COVID-19, we developed a perceptual measure of olfaction that relies on smelling household odorants and rating them online.METHODS: Each participant was instructed to select 5 household items, and rate their perceived odor pleasantness and intensity using an online visual analogue scale. We used this data to assign an olfactory perceptual fingerprint, a value that reflects the perceived difference between odorants. We tested the performance of this real-time tool in a total of 13,484 participants (462 COVID-19 positive) from 134 countries who provided 178,820 perceptual ratings of 60 different household odorants.RESULTS: We observe that olfactory ratings are indicative of COVID-19 status in a country, significantly correlating with national infection rates over time. More importantly, we observe indicative power at the individual level (79% sensitivity and 87% specificity). Critically, this olfactory screen remains effective in participants with COVID-19 but without symptoms, and in participants with symptoms but without COVID-19.CONCLUSIONS: The current odorant-based olfactory screen adds a component to online symptom-checkers, to potentially provide an added first line of defense that can help fight disease progression at the population level. The data derived from this tool may allow better understanding of the link between COVID-19 and olfaction.",

author = "K. Snitz and D. Honigstein and R. Weissgross and A. Ravia and E. Mishor and O. Perl and S. Karagach and A. Medhanie and N. Harel and S. Shushan and Y. Roth and B. Iravani and A. Arshamian and G. Ernst and M. Okamoto and C. Poo and N. Bonacchi and Z. Mainen and E. Monteleone and C. Dinnella and S. Spinelli and F. Mari{\~n}o-S{\'a}nchez and C. Ferdenzi and M.A.M. Smeets and K. Touhara and M. Bensafi and T. Hummel and J.N. Lundstr{\"o}m and N. Sobel",

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Snitz, K, Honigstein, D, Weissgross, R, Ravia, A, Mishor, E, Perl, O, Karagach, S, Medhanie, A, Harel, N, Shushan, S, Roth, Y, Iravani, B, Arshamian, A, Ernst, G, Okamoto, M, Poo, C, Bonacchi, N, Mainen, Z, Monteleone, E, Dinnella, C, Spinelli, S, Mariño-Sánchez, F, Ferdenzi, C, Smeets, MAM, Touhara, K, Bensafi, M, Hummel, T, Lundström, JN & Sobel, N 2022, 'An olfactory self-test effectively screens for COVID-19', Communications medicine, vol. 2, 34, pp. 1-12. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43856-022-00095-7

TY - JOUR

T1 - An olfactory self-test effectively screens for COVID-19

AU - Snitz, K.

AU - Honigstein, D.

AU - Weissgross, R.

AU - Ravia, A.

AU - Mishor, E.

AU - Perl, O.

AU - Karagach, S.

AU - Medhanie, A.

AU - Harel, N.

AU - Shushan, S.

AU - Roth, Y.

AU - Iravani, B.

AU - Arshamian, A.

AU - Ernst, G.

AU - Okamoto, M.

AU - Poo, C.

AU - Bonacchi, N.

AU - Mainen, Z.

AU - Monteleone, E.

AU - Dinnella, C.

AU - Spinelli, S.

AU - Mariño-Sánchez, F.

AU - Ferdenzi, C.

AU - Smeets, M.A.M.

AU - Touhara, K.

AU - Bensafi, M.

AU - Hummel, T.

AU - Lundström, J.N.

AU - Sobel, N.

PY - 2022/4/5

Y1 - 2022/4/5

N2 - BACKGROUND: Key to curtailing the COVID-19 pandemic are wide-scale screening strategies. An ideal screen is one that would not rely on transporting, distributing, and collecting physical specimens. Given the olfactory impairment associated with COVID-19, we developed a perceptual measure of olfaction that relies on smelling household odorants and rating them online.METHODS: Each participant was instructed to select 5 household items, and rate their perceived odor pleasantness and intensity using an online visual analogue scale. We used this data to assign an olfactory perceptual fingerprint, a value that reflects the perceived difference between odorants. We tested the performance of this real-time tool in a total of 13,484 participants (462 COVID-19 positive) from 134 countries who provided 178,820 perceptual ratings of 60 different household odorants.RESULTS: We observe that olfactory ratings are indicative of COVID-19 status in a country, significantly correlating with national infection rates over time. More importantly, we observe indicative power at the individual level (79% sensitivity and 87% specificity). Critically, this olfactory screen remains effective in participants with COVID-19 but without symptoms, and in participants with symptoms but without COVID-19.CONCLUSIONS: The current odorant-based olfactory screen adds a component to online symptom-checkers, to potentially provide an added first line of defense that can help fight disease progression at the population level. The data derived from this tool may allow better understanding of the link between COVID-19 and olfaction.

AB - BACKGROUND: Key to curtailing the COVID-19 pandemic are wide-scale screening strategies. An ideal screen is one that would not rely on transporting, distributing, and collecting physical specimens. Given the olfactory impairment associated with COVID-19, we developed a perceptual measure of olfaction that relies on smelling household odorants and rating them online.METHODS: Each participant was instructed to select 5 household items, and rate their perceived odor pleasantness and intensity using an online visual analogue scale. We used this data to assign an olfactory perceptual fingerprint, a value that reflects the perceived difference between odorants. We tested the performance of this real-time tool in a total of 13,484 participants (462 COVID-19 positive) from 134 countries who provided 178,820 perceptual ratings of 60 different household odorants.RESULTS: We observe that olfactory ratings are indicative of COVID-19 status in a country, significantly correlating with national infection rates over time. More importantly, we observe indicative power at the individual level (79% sensitivity and 87% specificity). Critically, this olfactory screen remains effective in participants with COVID-19 but without symptoms, and in participants with symptoms but without COVID-19.CONCLUSIONS: The current odorant-based olfactory screen adds a component to online symptom-checkers, to potentially provide an added first line of defense that can help fight disease progression at the population level. The data derived from this tool may allow better understanding of the link between COVID-19 and olfaction.

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DO - 10.1038/s43856-022-00095-7

M3 - Article

C2 - 35603293

SN - 2730-664X

VL - 2

SP - 1

EP - 12

JO - Communications medicine

JF - Communications medicine

M1 - 34

ER -

An olfactory self-test effectively screens for COVID-19

Abstract

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