Introduction
Coronavirus disease 19 (Covid-19) has spread since December 2019, due to
a coronavirus transmitted from human to human through airway secretions
(1).
To limit transmission of the virus, surgical masks are recommended
worldwide as a filter to avoid propagation of SARS-CoV-2 by airborne
droplets (1). In Oto-rhino-laryngology departments, we noticed an
increase of complaints of daily discomfort, especially a loss of smell
attributed to the mask (2). Some of these people were health care staff,
who must wear a face mask for hours. It could be an added stress factor
in this period with high psychological impact for healthcare workers
(3). We hypothesize that the mask could filter some odorant particles,
leading to a transient hyposmia.
A well-recognized tool for assessing olfactory performances is the
sniffin’ stick test (SST) which
consists in smelling scent pens to determine 1) an olfactory threshold,
2) a score of discrimination and 3) an identification score (4).
The purpose of this pilot study was to compare the results of SST with
and without a mask in a population of self-reported normosmic volunteers
to evaluate any consequence of wearing a surgical mask on the sense of
smell.