Olfactory dysfunction in patients after recovering from COVID-19.
Acta Otolaryngol
; 140(12): 1032-1035, 2020 Dec.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-741751
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
Smell and taste disorders occur in COVID-19 with a high prevalence, but little is known about the duration of the symptoms. In particular, studies using validated olfactory tests are very rare to date. AIMS/OBJECTIVES:
The aim of this study was to determine the olfactory function of COVID-19 recoveries by a detailed olfactory test.METHODS:
91 patients with PCR-confirmed, past COVID-19 disease were included. Olfactory history was taken using a questionnaire. Olfactory function was evaluated with the sniffin' sticks test, tasting function with taste sprays.RESULTS:
80 patients had experienced sudden olfactory loss during the course of disease and at the time of testing, 33 patients subjectively still had an impaired olfactory sense. Around 8 weeks had passed since the onset of symptoms. 45.1% of the tested individuals were still hyposmic according to the olfactory test while 53.8% showed an olfactory performance within the normal range. Patients' self-assessment correlated poorly with the measured olfactory performance. CONCLUSIONS ANDSIGNIFICANCE:
Half of the patients with an olfactory loss as a symptom of COVID-19 still have olfactory impairments after two months, although not all of these patients subjectively notice a restriction. Long-term measurements must confirm whether all affected patients will make full recovery.Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Sensory Thresholds
/
Smell
/
SARS-CoV-2
/
COVID-19
/
Olfaction Disorders
Type of study:
Diagnostic study
/
Experimental Studies
/
Observational study
/
Prognostic study
Topics:
Long Covid
Limits:
Adult
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
/
Middle aged
Language:
English
Journal:
Acta Otolaryngol
Year:
2020
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
00016489.2020.1811999
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