ABSTRACT
Background: COVID-19 is the most important health problem in the world nowadays. Since the publication of the first cases, the symptoms have become more numerous. Anosmia has been recently recognized as a frequent and relevant symptom for the detection of COVID-19, especially in pauci-symptomatic forms. Objective(s): To determine the prevalence of anosmia in health care workers affected by SARS-COV2 and to identify its associated factors. Method(s): This is a cross-sectional analytical study, carried out over a six-month period, which included all healthcare workers of Farhat Hached Academic Hospital of Sousse, Tunisia, affected by SARS-COV2 and confirmed by polymerase chain reaction or antigen rapid test. Result(s): A total of 474 healthcare workers were enrolled with a mean age of 41.02+/-10.67 years and a sex ratio of 0.2. The gynecology department was the most represented one (13.9%). Nurses were the most affected (31.4%). Hospitalization was required for 16 patients (3.4%). The average time of work was 17.04 +/- 11.6 days. Anosmia persisted for more than 90 days in 35 patients (7.4%). After multiple binary logistic regression, anosmia was statistically associated with female gender (p = 0.001;ORIC95%:2.46 [1.4-4.2]) and blue-collar occupational category (p = 0.002;ORIC95%:3.1 [1.5-6.5]). A significant association was also noted between the presence of anosmia and professional seniority (p = 0.019;OR IC95%: 0.97 [0.95-0.99]) and the duration of work (p = 0.03;OR IC95%: 0.97 [0.95-0.99]). Conclusion(s): Although anosmia seems to be frequent in COVID-19 patients, there is still not enough evidence to affirm that it is a strong predictor of the diagnosis of COVID-19.