Smell and Taste Dysfunction in COVID-19 Is Associated With Younger Age in Ambulatory Settings: A Multicenter Cross-Sectional Study.
J Investig Allergol Clin Immunol
; 30(5): 346-357, 2020.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1000713
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE:
Since the initial anecdotal reports of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) from China, a growing number of studies have reported on smell and/or taste dysfunction (STD).Objective:
The aim of our study was to investigate the frequency and severity of STD in COVID-19 patients and to evaluate the association with demographic characteristics, hospital admission, symptoms, comorbidities, and blood biomarkers.METHODS:
We performed a multicenter cross-sectional study on patients who were positive for SARS-CoV-2 (n=846) and controls (n=143) from 15 Spanish hospitals. Data on STD were collected prospectively using an in-person survey. The severity of STD was categorized using a visual analog scale. We analyzed time to onset, recovery rate, time to recovery, hospital admission, pneumonia, comorbidities, smoking, and symptoms.RESULTS:
STD was at least 2-fold more common in COVID-19-positive patients than in controls. COVID-19-positive hospitalized patients were older, with a lower frequency of STD, and recovered earlier than outpatients. Analysis stratified by severity of STD showed that more than half of COVID-19 patients presented severe loss of smell (53.7%) or taste (52.2%); both senses were impaired in >90%. In the multivariate analysis, older age (>60 years), being hospitalized, and increased C-reactive protein were associated with a better sense of smell and/or taste. COVID-19-positive patients reported improvement in smell (45.6%) and taste (46.1%) at the time of the survey; in 90.6% this was within 2 weeks of infection.CONCLUSION:
STD is a common symptom in COVID-19 and presents mainly in young and nonhospitalized patients. More studies are needed to evaluate follow-up of chemosensory impairment.Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Pneumonia, Viral
/
Taste Disorders
/
Coronavirus Infections
/
Betacoronavirus
/
Olfaction Disorders
Type of study:
Cohort study
/
Diagnostic study
/
Experimental Studies
/
Observational study
/
Prognostic study
/
Randomized controlled trials
Topics:
Long Covid
Limits:
Adult
/
Aged
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
/
Middle aged
/
Young adult
Country/Region as subject:
Europa
Language:
English
Journal:
J Investig Allergol Clin Immunol
Journal subject:
Allergy and Immunology
Year:
2020
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Jiaci.0595
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