ABSTRACT
Background: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) neurologic symptoms such as anosmia and ageusia are considered the most challenging issues for patients in the first steps of viral infection. Herein, we aimed to investigate the olfactory and gustatory dysfunction and their association with prognostic factors in patients with COVID-19. Material(s) and Method(s): The current retrospective study was performed on patients admitted to a hospital with a definite diagnosis of COVID-19 between March and November 2020. Based on the study criteria, information of 150 eligible participants (89 males and 61 females) was collected entirely. The olfactory and gustatory symptoms, including anosmia, hyposmia, ageusia, and dysgeusia, were assessed, and five main COVID-19 prognostic factors, including the level of D-dimer, C-reactive protein (CRP), lymphocyte count (LC), lactic acid dehydrogenase (LDH) and COVID-19 related lung involvement was measured. Result(s): Among all patients, 102 (68%) participants were treated entirely, and 48 (32%) died. All prognostic factors, including CRP, LDH, LC, D-dimer, and lung involvement, were significantly higher in death cases compared to treated patients. We found that 97 (64.7%) patients experienced at least one olfactory or gustatory dysfunction. The level of CRP, LC, D-dimer, and lung involvement showed a better prognosis among patients with at least one sensory dysfunction. Moreover, a better outcome was observed in patients with sensory dysfunction. Conclusion(s): It can be concluded the evaluation of CRP, LDH, D-dimer, and LC, together with the HRCT scan score, contributes to a better prognosis in COVID-19 patients with sensory dysfunction. Copyright © 2022 The authors.
ABSTRACT
Considering that there are different reports about the effects of angiotensin II type-I receptor blockers (ARB) and angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEI) on the outcomes of the patients with COVID-19, we aimed to conduct this retrospective study on 138 hypertensive patients (81 ACEI/ARB users) to assess the patients’ outcomes by comparing ACEI/ARB and non-ACEI/ARB users. Multivariate adjusted cox regression model, by considering the effect of other variables, demonstrated that increased age (HR = 1.04, 95% CI = 1.01-1.07, P =0.003) and non-ACEI/ARB users (HR = 2.12 95% CI = 1.12-4.13, P = 0.021) were associated with increased risk of in-hospital mortality in about one week follow-up. In conclusion, we found that in-hospital mortality was lower in ACEI/ARB users, showing the positive effect of these treatments on patients’ outcomes.