Contemporary Analysis of Olfactory Dysfunction in Mild to Moderate Covid 19 Patients in A Tertiary Health Care Centre

The World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic on March 11, 2020. The virus that causes COVID-19 was designated as severe acute respiratory syndrome corona virus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Several studies have reported chemosensory dysfunction, such as anosmia and ageusia, as common findings in COVID-19 positive patients. To date, qualitative olfactory testing has been performed only in a very few cohort studies on COVID-19 patients. However, objective testing is necessary to verify or determine the true magnitude of their deficits. Moreover, the proportion of COVID-19 patients exhibiting true olfactory disturbances is unknown.

To determine the true prevalence of olfactory dysfunction in COVID-19 patients by objective assessment in mild to moderate symptomatic patients.

This was a prospective cross-sectional analytical study. All patients who were COVID-19 positive and having mild to moderate symptoms and not admitted in ICU formed part of the study group. Objective evaluation of smell function was done.

Self-reported smell dysfunction was present in 26.9% patients (n=62) and taste dysfunction was seen in 10.9% (n=25) of patients. On quantitative assessment of smell dysfunction, it was noted that 41.3% (n=95) of patients had some form of smell dysfunction out of which 70.5% patients (n=67) had hyposmia and 29.5% patients (n=28) had anosmia.

Incidence was found to be more by objective assessment when compared to self-reported symptoms.