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Objective: To investigate the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) status of patients with initial sudden olfactory anosmia (ISOA) through nasopharyngeal swabs for reverse transcription–polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) analysis and to explore their olfactory dysfunctions with psychophysical olfactory evaluation. Methods: A total of 78 ISOA patients were recruited from April 6, 2020, to April 10, 2020, through a public call of University of Mons (Mons, Belgium). Patients benefited from nasopharyngeal swabs and fulfilled the patient-reported outcome questionnaire. Among them, 46 patients performed psychophysical olfactory evaluation using olfactory identification testing. Based on the duration of the ISOA, 2 groups of patients were compared: patients with olfactory dysfunction duration ≤12 days (group 1) and those with duration >12 days (group 2). Results: In group 1, 42 patients (87.5%) had a positive viral load determined by RT-PCR and 6 patients (12.5%) were negative. In group 2, 7 patients (23%) had a positive viral load and 23 patients (77%) were negative. The psychophysical olfactory evaluation reported that anosmia and hyposmia occurred in 24 (52%) and 11 (24%) patients, respectively. Eleven patients were normosmic. The viral load was significantly higher in patients of group 1 compared with those of group 2. Conclusions: Coronavirus disease 2019 was detected in a high proportion of ISOA patients, especially over the first 12 days of olfactory dysfunction. Anosmia is an important symptom to consider in the detection of COVID-19 infection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The lack of objective data makes it difficult to establish the prognostic value of chemosensitive disorders in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients. We aimed to prospectively monitor patients diagnosed with COVID-19 to see if the severity of olfactory and gustatory dysfunction associates with subsequent disease severity. Methods: Multicentre prospective study that recruited 106 COVID-19 subjects at diagnosis. Chemosensitive functions were assessed with psychophysical tests within 4 days of clinical onset, at 10 and 20 days. Daily body temperature and oxygen saturation were recorded as markers of disease severity alongside need for hospitalisation. The correlation between olfactory and gustatory scores and disease severity was assessed with linear regression analysis. Results: At T0, 71 patients (67%) presented with olfactory dysfunction while gustatory impairment was detected in 76 cases (65.6%). Chemosensitive disorders gradually improved over the observation period. No significant correlations were found between T0 chemosensitive scores and final disease severity. The correlation between olfactory scores and fever proved significant at T2 (p = 0.05), while the relationship with gustatory scores was significant at T1 (p = 0.01) and T2 (p < 0.001), however neither was clinically relevant. The correlation between chemosensitive scores and oxygen saturation was significant only for taste at T2 (p < 0.001). Logistic regression analysis found significant correlations between olfactory impairment severity and need for hospitalization at T2 (OR 3.750, p = 0.005). Conclusions: Initial objective olfactory and gustatory scores do not seem to have a significant prognostic value in predicting the severity of the COVID-19 course; however, persistence of olfactory dysfunction at 20 days, associated with a more severe course. Unfortunately, olfactory and gustatory dysfunction do not seem to hold prognostic value at the time of initial diagnosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Laryngopharyngeal reflux (LPR) is an inflammatory condition suspected to be associated with dysphonia. In this study, we investigated multidimensional perceptual, aerodynamic, and acoustic voice changes in patients with clinically diagnosed LPR compared to healthy participants. We prospectively included 80 outpatients with Reflux Finding Score (RFS) >7 and Reflux Symptom Index (RSI) >13 from September 2013 to April 2016 and we compared clinical and voice quality assessments of these patients with 80 healthy participants. Statistically significant differences were found between groups with regard to Voice Handicap Index, perceptual voice quality (grades of dysphonia, roughness, strain, breathiness, asthenia, and instability), phonatory quotient, percentage jitter, percentage shimmer, peak-to-peak amplitude variation, standard deviation of fundamental frequency, and noise to harmonic ratio. Granulation score of RFS was found to affect the highest number of acoustic parameters. We did not identify significant correlation between vocal fold edema and objective voice quality measurements. This study supports that patients with LPR have significant deterioration of both subjective and objective voice quality compared to healthy participants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Laryngopharyngeal reflux is a prevalent, not well-understood disease affecting a high proportion of patients who seek laryngology consultation. The objective of this prospective case series is to explore the subjective and objective voice modifications in Laryngopharyngeal reflux (LPR), especially the usefulness of acoustic parameters as treatment outcomes, and to better understand the pathophysiological mechanisms underlying the development of voice disorder. Methods: Forty-one patients with a reflux finding score (RFS) > 7 and a reflux symptom index (RSI) > 13 were enrolled and treated with pantoprazole 20 mg twice daily for three months. RSI, RFS, Voice Handicap Index (VHI), and Grade, Roughness, Breathiness, Asthenia, Strain and Instability (GRBASI) were assessed at baseline and after three months post-therapy. Acoustic parameters were measured by selecting the most stable interval of the vowel /a/. A study of correlations between acoustic measurements and laryngoscopic signs was conducted in patients with roughness. Statistical analysis was performed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS). Results: Significant improvement in RSI, RFS, VHI, jitter, percent jitter, relative average perturbation (RAP), shimmer, percent shimmer, and amplitude perturbation quotient (APQ) was found at 3 months of treatment (p < .05). A correlation analysis revealed significant correlations between the grade of dysphonia, breathiness, asthenia, instability and jitter, percent jitter, RAP, shimmer, percent shimmer and APQ. In dividing our cohort into two groups of patients according to the presence of roughness, shimmer, percent shimmer and APQ significantly improved in patients with roughness, but no positive correlation was found between acoustic parameters and laryngoscopic signs. Conclusion: Acoustic parameters can help to better understand voice disorders in LPR and can be used as treatment outcomes in patients with roughness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]