Long-term persistence of olfactory and gustatory disorders in COVID-19 patients

Nguyen, Nhu Ngoc; Hoang, Van Thuan; Lagier, Jean-Christophe; Raoult, Didier; Gautret, Philippe

In the present study, we aimed to assess recovery rates at more than six months post-onset of anosmia and ageusia due to COVID-19 infection. Patients who reported anosmia and/or ageusia at the acute phase of a COVID-19 PCR-confirmed episode were retrospectively identified from a cohort of 3,737 patients seen at Hospital University institute, Marseille between 3 March and 27 April, 2020. A total of 200 patients were randomly selected. 75 (37.5%) were lost in follow-up and 125 (62.5%) answered the questionnaire. 68.1% patients recovered their sense of smell and 73.0% their sense of taste during the first six weeks following the onset of symptoms. Anosmia tended to take more time to resolve than ageusia. A total of 30 patients (24.0%) reported persistent taste and smell disorders. Female patients were more likely to report persistent symptoms than male patients (73.3% versus 26.7%, respectively, p value = 0.02). Further studies based on validated discrimination tests including psychophysical tests or electrophysiological methods should be conducted to better characterize long-term olfactory and gustative disorder in COVID-19 patients