Alteration of Smell and Taste Sensations in Covid-19 Positive Patients: A Prospective Cohort Study in Western India

Loss/alteration of Smell and taste sensation is common in CoViD-19 infection. We conducted present study to find out the frequency, onset and severity of these lost sensations and their recovery in mild, moderate and severe COVID 19 positive patients in our setup. A questionnaire based study on 574 COVID-19 positive patients admitted in a dedicated COVID hospital between September-November, 2020 were followed up until their sensations recovered completely or maximum for two months. Fever was the most common symptom reported. Loss of smell and taste sensation is seen in 200 (34.84%) and 269 (46.86%) patients respectively; 163 (28.4%) developed both. Males were affected significantly more than females (p = 0.030 and 0.027). Approximately 1/4th patients [49 (24.5%) and 55 (20.45%)] reported loss of smell and taste sensation as their first symptom. Most common taste sensation lost was salty 191 (71.0%). Loss of smell sensation is seen maximally in mild cases and the difference among mild, moderate and severe cases is statistically significant (p = 0.00001); while the difference in loss of taste among all three grades of severity is statistically insignificant (p = 0.0770). Most of the patients [smell (142; 71%) and taste (198; 73.6%)] recovered after 2 weeks of onset of lost sensations while 96.5% (193/200) and 98.1% (264/269) patients reported complete recovery of smell and taste sensations after two months of onset. Present study shows that high percentage of COVID-19 positive patients develop loss of either one or both of smell and taste sensations but recovery is fast and complete in most of them.