Int J Infect Dis . Prevalence and recovery time of olfactory and gustatory dysfunctions of hospitalized patients with COVID‑19 in Wuhan, China

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Int J Infect Dis


. 2020 Sep 17;S1201-9712(20)30755-4.
doi: 10.1016/j.ijid.2020.09.039. Online ahead of print.
Prevalence and recovery time of olfactory and gustatory dysfunctions of hospitalized patients with COVID‑19 in Wuhan, China


Hao Lv ¹ , Wei Zhang ¹ , Zhanyong Zhu ² , Qiutang Xiong ³ , Rong Xiang ¹ , Yingying Wang ¹ , Wendan Shi ¹ , Zhifeng Deng ¹ , Yu Xu ⁴



Affiliations

• PMID: 32950734
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ijid.2020.09.039

Abstract

Objectives: To investigate olfactory and gustatory dysfunction in patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Wuhan using a telephone interview.
Methods: This retrospective telephone survey investigated 196 consecutive patients with COVID-19 discharged 3 months previously from two hospital in Wuhan, China. The characteristics of the patient's disease course and recovery time for olfactory and/or gustatory dysfunctions (OD and/or GD) were collected by telephone interview. Demographic data were collected from the patients' medical records.
Results: A total of 196 patients with COVID-19 completed the study. The most prevalent general symptoms consisted of fever, cough, and fatigue. 19.9% of patients reported OD and/or GD. In 87.2% of these cases, OD or GD appeared after the general symptoms. Among the patients, 51.4% had a recovery time of more than 4 weeks for OD and/or GD. Patients with COVID-19 and OD and/or GD had significantly higher rates of cardiovascular disease than patients without OD and/or GD (p = 0.002).
Conclusion: Recovery from chemosensory dysfunction (OD and/or GD) was slow, with over half of the patients taking more than 4 weeks to recover. Cardiovascular disease might be related to the development of olfactory or taste disorders in patients with COVID-19.

Keywords: COVID-19; Gustatory disorders; Olfactory disorders; Recovery; SARS-CoV-2.