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Persisting Olfactory Impairments in Recovered COVID-19 Patient: A Three-Year Follow-Up
19 Pages Posted: 16 Mar 2023
More...Abstract
Background: Olfactory dysfunction (OD) has been regarded as one of the major sequalae of SARS-CoV-2 infection. Previous studies showed the smell loss of COVID-19 patients could be lasting, one or two years after onset of the disease. It remains uncertain whether SARS-CoV-2-caused dysosmia may last for a longer time.
Methods: We collected the epidemiological, demographic, clinical, and odors tests data in a multi-center group of 155 COVID-19 recovered patients and 170 healthy controls as a three-year follow-up study. We used Toyota‐Takagi (T&T) olfactometry scores system as an auxiliary diagnosis of dysosmia. We analyzed the emotional status and sleep condition of the included cases. Besides, we did correlation analysis and logistic regression of any influential factors on OD.
Results: The median duration of COVID-19 from symptom onset to hospital discharge was 30 days. Only 7 cases (4.5%) still had smell loss and all of them were older than 50 years. The results showed more than 30% of them had emotional and sleep problems, which were more likely to happen in women and older patients. Insomnia (AIS > 6) and anxiety (HAMA≥7) were the two risk factors for OD in recovered COVID-19 patients.
Interpretation: The majority of recovered COVID-19 patients had normal olfactory function based on a three-year follow-up. We recommend reassuring patients with SARS-COV-2 infection for good prognosis.
Funding: This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) (No. 81873782 and No. 82271278), 2019 Wuhan Huanghe Talents Program, 2020 Wuhan medical research project (No. 2020020601012303), 2021 Hubei Youth Top-notch Talent Training Program and 2022 Outstanding Youth Project of Natural Science Foundation of Hubei province (No. 2022CFA106) (all to N.X).
Declaration of Interest: No.
Ethical Approval: This study was approved by the institutional ethical review boards of Wuhan Red Cross Hospital. Informed consent was obtained from all subjects involved in the study.
Keywords: olfactory, effective recovery, COVID-19, anxiety, depression, sleep disorder
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