Relationship between Smell and Taste Impairment Function among COVID-19 Patient in General Hospital of Adam Malik Medan

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Decrease of smell-taste has become a cardinal symptom of COVID-19. Some previous studies have reported that most of the COVID-19 patients complained of early smell-taste impairment. AIM: Hence, this study was aimed to investigate the relationship between smell and taste impairment against PCR test results. METHODS: This study was an observational study with a cross-sectional study among 193 patients who were diagnosed as COVID-19 that had smell-taste impairment between March and August 2020. Parameters were evaluated in this study included age, sex, ethic, occupation, smell-taste impairment, coagulation state, comorbid condition, obesity, and the result of the swab PCR test. The relationship between smell and taste impairment and the PCR test result was analyzed by Chi-square and regression logistic. RESULTS: This study showed that most COVID-19 patients were female (32.1%) aged 18−40 years old (25.9%). Meanwhile, the most comorbid condition owned by the COVID-19 patient in the General Hospital of Adam Malik Medan was diabetes, followed by hypertension, cardiovascular disease, and stroke. Moreover, this study also revealed that the smell (adjusted OR: 3.92; 95% CI: 1.30−11.87) and taste (adjusted OR: 3.64; 95% CI: 1.30−10.22) impairment significantly associated with COVID-19 (p < 0.05) CONCLUSION: Overall, it can be concluded that the smell-taste impairment can be used to early symptoms to predict the COVID-19 with the positive PCR test result.