Abstract
Loss of smell and taste are common complaints in patients with the COVID-19 disease. These symptoms may present alone or with other symptoms. It is of utmost importance to know their rates of occurrence for better controlling of the infection. The aim of the study was to detect the prevalence of anosmia and ageusia in individuals with COVID-19 in Al-Wajbah Primary Health Center, Doha, Qatar. This retrospective study was conducted at Al-Wajbah Primary Health Center, Doha, Qatar. The study covered the two-month period -May and June 2020. The proven cases of COVID-19 by real-time PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction) were enrolled in the study. Data regarding the age, gender, symptomatology including anosmia and ageusia, history of recent travel, smoking, past history of nasal and paranasal diseases (NPND), and severity of the disease were taken from the patients’ records. IBM- SPSS version 22 statistical software was used for the analysis of the data. Out of 141, 35 (24.82%) subject presented with anosmia, ageusia or both. Most of the patients were from age group > 30 year (n = 104, 73.76%) with nearly equal gender. The majority of the individuals were without history of recent travel (92.2%) and smoking (80.14%). Three-quarters of the patients were asymptomatic, and 51.06% with a past history of NPND. The male sex, history of recent travel, smoking, and severe course of the disease were positive, highly significant association with anosmia or ageusia. All patients returned to their normal smell and taste sensations within a mean duration of 6.89 days. Loss of taste and smell were common symptomatology of COVID-19 disease. The males, recent travel, smoking, and severe course of the disease were risk factors of the anosmia and ageusia in COVID-19 cases.
Highlights
On the last day of the year 2019, 41 patients with pneumonia of unidentified cause were detected in Wuhan City, Hubei province in China [1]
The aim of the study was to detect the prevalence of anosmia and ageusia in individuals with COVID-19 in Al-Wajbah Primary Health Center, Doha, Qatar
We aimed to determine the prevalence of anosmia and ageusia in patients with COVID-19 in Al-Wajbah Primary Health Center, Doha, Qatar
Summary
On the last day of the year 2019, 41 patients with pneumonia of unidentified cause were detected in Wuhan City, Hubei province in China [1]. The World Health Organization (WHO) in February 2020 named the disease as COVID-19 [2]. During the outbreak of COVID-19 infection, there were millions of infected people and hundreds of thousands dead all over the world, and it remains a global threat [3]. The attention worldwide focused mainly on the infected cases and those with direct contact with patients. The asymptomatic carriers were not being tested because of the shortage in testing kits including all the suspicious cases even in developed countries with a good health system like the US and the UK [4]. It is of utmost importance to evaluate the number of predictive symptoms of this disease
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