Severity and reversibility of smell-taste dysfunction in COVID-19 patients

Background: In SARS-COV-2 disease, anosmia and dysgeusia are symptoms that are usually detected together. In our study, it was aimed to investigate the impairments in the sense of smell and taste in our COVID-19 patients and to determine the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV) and negative predictive value (NPV) of the parameters accompanying this impairment. Methods: The study was conducted retrospectively in patients with positive COVID-19 rtRT-PCR test, whose complaints of smell-taste dysfunction were questioned in 6 centers. Result: 8238 patients questioned for the impaired sense of smell and taste were included in our study. 1756 (21.3%) patients had smell-taste dysfunction. Smell dysfunction started 2.9±2.3 days after the onset of COVID-19 specific symptoms and continued for 9.4±2.7 days. There was a positive correlation between the disturbance of smell and taste and the complaints of fever, sore throat, myalgia, weakness, headache, and negative correlation the complaints of cough. 218 (12.4%) of the patients with smell-taste dysfunction stated that this complaint negatively affected their quality of life. Conclusion: Smell-taste dysfunction is more common, especially with the symptoms of upper respiratory tract infection of COVID-19, and has a positive correlation with fever, sore throat, myalgia, weakness, and headache, affects the quality of life of patients and improves in about 10-14 days. © 2021 A. CARBONE Editore. All rights reserved.