Abstract
Objectives
With the COVID-19 pandemic, there is growing interest and research in olfactory and
gustatory dysfunction (OGD). Drug-induced dysfunction is an often overlooked etiology.
While several medications include smell or taste disturbance as a side effect, there
are no publications describing which medications are most frequently implicated. We
aim to describe the patterns of these adverse drug reactions (ADRs) using the FDA
Adverse Events Reporting System (FAERS).
Methods
The FAERS database was queried from 2011 to 2021 for terms describing ADRs related
to OGD. Terms included anosmia, hyposmia, olfactory test abnormal, olfactory nerve
disorder, hallucination olfactory, parosmia, ageusia, hypogeusia, dysgeusia, and taste
disorder. We identified the top reported medications associated with general smell
dysfunction, general taste dysfunction, reduced smell, and altered smell.
Results
From 2011 to 2021, 16,091 ADRs were reported with OGD, of which13,641 (84.8%) and
2,450 (15.2%) were associated with gustatory and olfactory reactions, respectively.
Zinc products (370 reports) and fluticasone propionate (214) were most commonly associated
with olfactory dysfunction, specifically reduced olfaction. Varenicline (24) and fluticasone
propionate (23) were most commonly associated with altered smell. Lenalidomide (490)
and sunitinib (468) were most commonly associated with gustatory dysfunction. Antineoplastic
and immunomodulating medications accounted for 21.6% and 36.3% of olfactory and gustatory
ADRs, respectively. Among this category, immunoglobulin drugs were the most commonly
associated with OGD ADRs.
Conclusion
Gustatory dysfunction is more commonly reported ADR compared with olfactory dysfunction.
Immunologic/rheumatologic medications are the leading culprit of reported OGD. With
increasing numbers of patients presenting to otolaryngologists for OGD, it is important
to consider drug-induced etiology.
Level of evidence
III.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: January 20, 2023
Accepted:
December 22,
2022
Received:
November 3,
2022
Publication stage
In Press Corrected ProofFootnotes
The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. This manuscript was presented at ARS at COSM 2022 in Dallas, TX.
Funding Source: None.
Identification
Copyright
© 2022 Japanese Society of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Inc. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
