Bhutani, Surabhi Coppin, Géraldine Veldhuizen, Maria Geraldine Parma, Valentina Joseph, Paule Valery 2021-03-02 <jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:sec><jats:title>Background/objectives</jats:title><jats:p>Individuals with obesity show alterations in smell and taste abilities. Smell and taste loss are also the most prominent neurological symptoms of COVID-19, yet how chemosensory ability present in individuals with obesity with a positive COVID-19 diagnosis is unknown.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Subjects/Methods</jats:title><jats:p>In this secondary analysis of a cross-sectional global dataset, we compared self-reported chemosensory ability in participants with a respiratory illness reporting a positive (C19+; n = 5156) or a negative (C19−; n = 659) COVID-19 laboratory test outcome, who also self-reported to be obese (C19+; n = 433, C19−; n = 86) or non-obese.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Results</jats:title><jats:p>Compared to the C19− group, C19+ exhibited a greater decline in smell, taste, and chemesthesis during illness, though these symptoms did not differ between participants with obesity and without obesity. In 68% of participants who reported recovery from respiratory illness symptoms (n=3431 C19+ and n= 539 C19−), post-recovery chemosensory perception did not differ in C19+ and C19− diagnosis, and by self-reported obesity. Finally, we found that all chemosensory and other symptoms combined predicted the C19+ diagnosis in participants with obesity with a moderately good estimate (63% accuracy). However, in C19+ participants with obesity, we observed a greater relative prevalence of non-chemosensory symptoms, including respiratory as respiratory and GI symptoms.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Conclusions</jats:title><jats:p>We conclude that despite a presumed lower sensitivity to chemosensory stimuli, COVID-19 respondents with obesity experience a similar self-reported chemosensory loss as those without obesity, and in both groups self-reported chemosensory symptoms are similarly predictive of COVID-19.</jats:p></jats:sec> application/pdf https://sonar.unidistance.ch/global/documents/336001 https://n2t.net/ark:/51647/srd1336001 https://sonar.unidistance.ch/documents/336001/files/COVID-19-Related-Chemosensory-Changes-in-Individuals-with-Self-Reported-Obesity.pdf info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1101/2021.02.28.21252536 info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/ark/51647/srd1336001 info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess Rhinology. - 2021 COVID-19 Related Chemosensory Changes in Individuals with Self-Reported Obesity http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_816b