Up the nose, into the brain? Doctor examines link between COVID-19 smell loss, depression
CINCINNATI – You can't smell anything. Taste is botched. How depressing, right?
Well, yes, that is right. But the real question is, why do you feel depressed when you have COVID-19 with smell loss? The answer could be that the disease caused by the novel coronavirus is attacking your brain.
New research led by Dr. Ahmad Sedaghat, an ear, nose, throat specialist and internationally recognized expert in rhinology at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, suggests that COVID-19 may not only be knocking out the sense of smell for some, but also using the olfactory tract as a way to get into the brain.
And once in the central nervous system, the illness might be causing the depression and anxiety that those with smell loss exhibit. No one will know that for sure until more research is done.
"It's our hypothesis," Sedaghat said last week.
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The idea came to him after he and his team looked at the results of a phone study in which people with the disease were asked about feelings of depression and anxiety.
The patients reporting psychological distress were those with smell inhibition and problems associated with it.
Labored breathing? Days of high fever? These life-threatening symptoms weren't linked with depression or anxiety.
"It is kind of absurd and ridiculous given how severe and how dire these symptoms are," said Sedaghat, associate professor of otolaryngology and director of rhinology, allergy and anterior skull base surgery at University of Cincinnati College of Medicine.
"I would've guessed that the symptoms that would be most associated with depressed mood and anxiety would be severe, dire symptoms: shortness of breath, coughing, fever."
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He called the results of the research "shocking."
But then again, there's been previous evidence that other coronaviruses, such as the severe acute respiratory syndrome of the 2003 outbreak, have the potential to infect the brain. Studies of mice have shown that the virus can enter the brain when inoculated intranasally.
Sedaghat, who works with European specialists in his field, was among researchers who had studied the COVID-19 symptom of smell loss during the early weeks when the novel coronavirus was hitting the United States. Europe had been experiencing more cases at first and identified the possible symptom, which has since become widely known.
Sedaghat noted that people were experiencing smell loss early in the disease. That meant it could be used as a screening tool, he said, to identify them as possible COVID-19 sufferers who should stay distanced from other people. The symptom is now commonly considered an indicator of the disease.
The latest phone questionnaire that Sedaghat headed is available online at The Laryngoscope. It looked at characteristics and symptoms of 114 patients actively infected with COVID-19 over six weeks at Kantonsspital Aarau in Aarau, Switzerland.
About 47% of respondents reported at least several days of depressed mood per week, with 21% reporting depressed mood nearly every day. Nearly 45% reported mild anxiety and 10.5%, severe anxiety.
Sedaghat said his research isn't an end.
"This study raises more questions than produces answers," he said. But he added, "It gives insight into what is going on with the disease.
Follow reporter Terry DeMio on Twitter: @tdemio
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This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: COVID-19 smell loss, depression: Ohio doctor examines possible link
