Abstract
Among the first clinical symptoms of the SARS-CoV-2 infection is olfactory–gustatory deficit; this continues for weeks and, in some cases, can be persistent. We prospectively evaluated 162 patients affected by COVID-19 using a visual analogue scale (VAS) for nasal and olfactory–gustatory symptoms. Patients were checked after 7, 14, 21, 28, 90, and 180 days. A total of 118 patients (72.8%) reported an olfactory VAS < 7 at baseline (group B), and 44 (27.2%) reported anosmia (VAS ≥ 7) (group A) and underwent the Brief Smell Identification Test (B-SIT) and Burghart Taste Strips (BTS) to quantify the deficit objectively and repeated the tests to confirm the sense recovery. Group A patients showed B-SIT anosmia and hyposmia in 44.2% and 55.8% of cases, respectively. A total of 88.6% of group A patients reported ageusia with VAS ≥ 7, and BTS confirmed 81.8% of ageusia and 18.2% of hypogeusia. VAS smell recovery was recorded starting from 14 days, with normalization at 28 days. The 28-day B-SIT score showed normosmia in 90.6% of group A patients. The mean time for full recovery (VAS = 0) was shorter in group B (22.9 days) than in group A (31.9 days). Chemosensory deficit is frequently the first symptom in patients with COVID-19, and, in most cases, recovery occurs after four weeks.
Highlights
The SARS-CoV-2 infection, well known as COVID-19, has spread worldwide sinceFebruary 2020, with pleomorphic symptomatic clinical manifestations
The literature reports a wide difference in diagnosis timing; patients enrolled in this study presented with mild–moderate symptoms that appeared, on average, 2.1 days from the diagnosis of COVID-19 infection and were evaluated, on average, over the following 4.9 days
Chemosensory deficit affects a large proportion of COVID-19 patients, often representing the onset symptom of the infection
Summary
The SARS-CoV-2 infection, well known as COVID-19, has spread worldwide sinceFebruary 2020, with pleomorphic symptomatic clinical manifestations. The SARS-CoV-2 infection, well known as COVID-19, has spread worldwide since. The SARS-CoV-2 viral infection can cause upper airway congestion, hyposmia or anosmia, pharyngodynia, cough, fever, headache, general discomfort, diarrhea, and acute dyspnea to respiratory failure until death, mainly in fragile subjects. About 70% of infected patients are asymptomatic or paucisymptomatic; roughly 30% can have symptoms such as flu, and 25% of these patients need hospitalization, while about one-third of them may require treatment in an intensive care unit for respiratory distress [2]. Among paucisymptomatic patients, the two main early symptoms are the loss of smell and taste with or without headache, fever, nasal obstruction, and rhinitis [3,4]. A report showed that almost half of the hospitalized patients presented anosmia and/or dysgeusia [5]
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