Smell and taste impairment in young adults with COVID-19


Cite item

Full Text

Open Access Open Access
Restricted Access Access granted
Restricted Access Subscription or Fee Access

Abstract

Smell and taste impairment are among the most common symptoms of COVID-19. Aim: to assess the patterns of olfactory and taste disorders associated with COVID-19 infection and their relationship with the clinical course of the disease. Material and methods. The cross-sectional survey enrolled 10348 young adults who had experienced taste and smell impairment during the COVID-19 epidemic. The patients were interviewed using an online questionnaire specially developed for the purposes of the work. The sampling has been stratified according to the severity of the disease course: mild (Group 1), moderate (Group 2), and severe (Group 3). Results. 7964 (77%) females and 2384 (23%) males aged from 20 to 40 were enrolled. The median age was 29 (24-36) for females and 29 (24-34) for males. A mild disease course was reported in 8454 (81,6%) cases, an average severity course was registered in 1486 (14,4%) respondents, and there were 408 (4%) cases of more than 50% bilateral polysegmental lung tissue involvement. Complete anosmia and ageusia was noted by 7225 (69,8%) respondents, insolated anosmia had occurred in 2641 (25,5%) cases, and 78 (0,7%) patients noted ageusia without olfactory dysfunction. Significant differences in the frequency of restoration of taste and smell in COVID-19 patients with different course severity were revealed. Before the disease onset, 534 respondents reported non-compliance with the recommended measures of self-isolation and respiratory protection, 1841 respondents continued to work out of home and use personal protection masks, 7846 persons reported a transition to remote job regime and use of individual masks when visiting public places. Conclusion. The development of taste and olfactory sense disorders in young patients with COVID-19 was associated with the disease course severity. Patients with severe coronavirus infection were significantly more likely to have a simultaneous violation of taste and smell, patients with mild and moderate severity were more likely to have anosmia without taste impairment. By the month since the disease onset, every other patient with mild disease course still retained complete or partial anosmia and ageusia. The subjects with moderate and severe COVID-19 course more often noted the restoration of taste and sense of smell by the end of the Month 1. The rate of recovery of taste and smell in young patients with COVID-19 was associated with the severity of the disease and compliance with self-isolation measures.

Full Text

Restricted Access

About the authors

Nadezhda V. Izmozherova

Ural State Medical University of the Ministry of Healthcare of Russia

Email: nadezhdajzm@mail.ru
MD, associate professor, head of the Department of pharmacology and clinical pharmacology, Chief freelance specialist - clinical pharmacologist of the Ministry of Healthcare of the Sverdlovsk Region Ekaterinburg

Artem A. Popov

Ural State Medical University of the Ministry of Healthcare of Russia

Email: art_popov@mail.ru
MD, associate professor, head of the Department of hospital therapy and emergency medicine Ekaterinburg

Muraz A. Shambatov

Ural State Medical University of the Ministry of Healthcare of Russia

Email: muraz.shambatov@rambler.ru
postgraduate student at the Department of pharmacology and clinical pharmacology Ekaterinburg

Ivan Yu. Baksheev

Bonum Multidisciplinary Clinical Medical Center

Email: xrayseven1@gmail.com
ophthalmologist Ekaterinburg

References

  1. Welge-Lussen A., Wolfensberger M. Olfactory disorders following upper respiratory tract infections. Adv Otorhinolaryngol. 2006; 63: 125-32. https://dx.doi.org/10.1159/000093758.
  2. Kanjanaumporn J., Aeumjaturapat S., Snidvongs K. et al. Smell and taste dysfunction in patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection: A review of epidemiology, pathogenesis, prognosis, and treatment options. Asian Pac J Allergy Immunol. 2020; 38(2): 69-77. https://dx.doi.org/10.12932/AP-030520-0826.
  3. Huart C., Philpott C., Konstantinidis I. et al.Comparison of COVID-19 and common cold chemosensory dysfunction. Rhinology. 2020; 58(6): 623-25. https://dx.doi.org/10.4193/Rhin20.251.
  4. Lechien J.R., Chiesa-Estomba C.M., De Siati D.R. et al. Olfactory and gustatory dysfunctions as a clinical presentation of mild-to-moderate forms of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19): A multicenter European study. Eur Arch Otorhinolaryngol. 2020; 277(8): 2251-61. https://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00405-020-05965-1.
  5. Chiesa-Estomba C.M., Lechien J.R., Radulesco T. et al. Patterns of smell recovery in 751 patients affected by the COVID-19 outbreak. Eur J Neurol. 2020; 27(1 1): 2318-21. https://dx.doi.org/10.1111/ene.14440.
  6. Parma V., Ohla K., Veldhuizen M.G. et al. More than smell - COVID-19 is associated with severe impairment of smell, taste, and chemesthesis. Chem Senses. 2020; 45(7): 609-22. https://dx.doi.org/10.1093/chemse/bjaa041.
  7. Временные методические рекомендации «Профилактика, диагностика и лечение новой коронавирусной инфекции (COVID-19) Версия 11» (утв. Минздравом России 07.05.2021). Доступ: https://base.garant.ru/400738625 (дата обращения - 1 1.01.2022).
  8. Nehme M., Braillard O., Chappuis F. et al. Prevalence of symptoms more than seven months after diagnosis of symptomatic COVID-19 in an outpatient setting. Ann Intern Med. 2021; 174(9): 1252-60. https://dx.doi.org/10.7326/M21-0878
  9. Kadri S.S., Sun J., Lawandi A. et al. Association between caseload surge and COVID-19 survival in 558 U.S. hospitals, March to August 2020. Ann Intern Med. 2021; 174(9): 1240-51. https://dx.doi.org/10.7326/M21-1213
  10. Bagheri S.H., Asghari A., Farhadi M. et al. Coincidence of COVID-19 epidemic and olfactory dysfunction outbreak in Iran. Med J Islam Repub Iran. 2020; 34: 62. https://dx.doi.org/10.34171/mjiri.34.62
  11. ENT UK. Hopkins C., Kumar N. Loss of sense of smell as marker of COVID-19 infection. URL: https://www.entuk.org/loss-sense-smell-marker-covid-19-infection (date of access - 1 1.01.2021)
  12. Gane S.B., Kelly C., Hopkins C. Isolated sudden onset anosmia in COVID-19 infection. A novel syndrome? Rhinology. 2020; 58(3): 299-301. https://dx.doi.org/10.4193/Rhin20.114
  13. Saussez S., Lechien J.R., Hopkins C. Anosmia: An evolution of our understanding of its importance in COVID-19 and what questions remain to be answered. Eur Arch Otorhinolaryngol. 2021; 278(7): 2187-91. https://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00405-020-06285-0.
  14. Lechien J.R., Chiesa-Estomba C.M., Beckers E. et al. Prevalence and 6-month recovery of olfactory dysfunction: A multicentre study of 1363 COVID-19 patients. J Intern Med. 2021; 290(2): 451-61. https://dx.doi.org/10.1111/joim.13209.
  15. Zhang R., Li Y., Zhang A.L. et al. Identifying airborne transmission as the dominant route for the spread of COVID-19. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2020; 1 17(26): 14857-63. https://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2009637117. Erratum in: Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2020; 1 17(41): 25942-43.
  16. Yuan F., Huang T., Wei Y., Wu D. Steroids and olfactory training for postviral olfactory dysfunction: A systematic review. Front Neurosci. 2021; 15: 708510. https://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fnins.2021.708510.
  17. Saussez S., Sharma S., Thiriard A. et al. Predictive factors of smell recovery in a clinical series of 288 coronavirus disease 2019 patients with olfactory dysfunction. Eur J Neurol. 2021; 28(1 1): 3702-1 1. https://dx.doi.org/10.1111/ene.14994.
  18. Coelho D.H., Reiter E.R., Budd S.G. et al. Predictors of smell recovery in a nationwide prospective cohort of patients with COVID-19. Am J Otolaryngol. 2022; 43(1): 103239. https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.amjoto.2021.103239.
  19. Hura N., Xie D.X., Choby G.W. et al. Treatment of post-viral olfactory dysfunction: An evidence-based review with recommendations.Int Forum Allergy Rhinol. 2020; 10(9): 1065-86. https://dx.doi.org/10.1002/alr.22624.
  20. Massachusetts Medical Society. Patient-reported outcome measures: Current state and MMS principles. URL: www.massmed.org/proms (date of access - 11.01.2022).
  21. Леонова М.В. Оценка исходов пациентами в клинических исследованиях. Качественная клиническая практика. 2016; 2: 38-45.
  22. Иванова А.А. Применение Big Data в сфере здравоохранения: российский и зарубежный опыт. Научные записки молодых исследователей. 2020; 5: 42-53

Supplementary files

Supplementary Files
Action
1. JATS XML

Copyright (c) 2022 Bionika Media