Search
Presentation Details
| Poster #207 Specific Associations Exist between Olfactory and Cognitive Deficits in Adults with Post-COVID Persistent Olfactory Dysfunction: A SCENT for Long COVID Baseline Analysis |
| Nicole M Cash1, Mary Clare M Koebel1, Lisa M McTeague1,2, Bashar Badran1, Aicko Y Schumann1, Thomas W Uhde1, Rodney J Schlosser3, Bernadette M Cortese1 1Department of Psychiatry and Behavorial Sciences, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC, United States 2Ralph H. Johnson Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Charleston, SC, United States 3Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC, United States |
Extensive overlapping neural circuits critical to both olfactory and cognitive processing has prompted growing interest in the relationship between olfaction and cognition, including whether olfactory function can serve as an early screening tool for cognitive impairment. Comorbidity of persistent olfactory dysfunction and “brain fog”, often reported in Long COVID, lends additional support for this notion. It remains unknown if post-COVID chronic olfactory dysfunction relates to cognitive impairment, and if specific olfactory and cognitive deficits associate with one another. We examined these questions utilizing baseline data collected from adults (N=40) participating in a treatment study for COVID-related persistent smell loss, called “Study of Chemosensory Enhancement through Neuromodulation Training (SCENT)”. Sniffin’ Sticks assessed odor threshold, discrimination, and identification, while the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA), Sustained Attention to Response Task (SART), and NIH Toolbox (NIH-TB) Cognition Battery assessed global cognition, sustained attention, inhibitory control, working memory, and cognitive flexibility and speed. Deficits in odor threshold related to more errors of omission (r=-.360, p=.023) and commission (r=-.329, p=.038) on the SART. Deficits in odor discrimination related to deficits in working memory on the NIH-TB picture sequence task (r=.350, p=.027) and lower MoCA global cognition scores (r=.508, p=.001). Deficits in odor identification and working memory (i.e. NIH-TB list sorting) were also related (r=.396, p=.011). The current results indicate associated COVID-related deficits in olfaction and cognition. Future analyses will determine if successful treatment of COVID-related chronic olfactory dysfunction results in improved cognitive function. |