Incidence of Olfactory Dysfunction in Patients with COVID-19 in a Tertiary Hospital in Saudi Arabia

Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, a novel virus that emerged in China in December 2019. In many cases of COVID-19, olfactory dysfunction (OD) is the only symptom.

This study aimed to examine the incidence of OD in patients with COVID-19 and identify an association between OD and COVID-19-related morbidity and admission.

This was a cross-sectional study.

Real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction-confirmed cases of COVID-19 from the Security Forces Hospital electronic registry from June 2020 to September 2020 were included in our study. Data on medical background, severity of the disease, and other related factors were collected through phone calls and electronic healthcare systems and analyzed to investigate OD in the participants.

Of the participants, 68% had OD, with a mean recovery time of 18 days and a mean follow-up time of 129 days (76-211 days). OD was negatively correlated with admission and morbidity.

OD is a common presentation of COVID-19 and is more prevalent in mild cases of infection.