Epidemiological, Otolaryngological, Olfactory and Gustatory Outcomes
According to the Severity of COVID-19: A study of 2,579 Patients.
Abstract
Objective: To investigate prevalence and epidemiological and clinical
factors associated with OD and GD in COVID-19 patients according to the
disease severity. Study design: Cross-sectional study. Methods: A total
of 2,579 patients with a positive diagnosis of COVID-19 were identified
between March 22 and June 3, 2020 from 18 European hospitals.
Epidemiological and clinical data were extracted. Otolaryngological
symptoms, including OD and GD were collected through patient-reported
outcome questionnaire and sniffin-sticks tests were carried out in a
subset of patients. Results: A total of 2,579 patients were included,
including 2,166 mild (84.0%), 144 moderate (5.6%) and 269
severe-to-critical (10.4%) patients. Mild patients presented an
otolaryngological picture of the disease with OD, GD, nasal obstruction,
rhinorrhea and sore throat as the most prevalent symptoms. The
prevalence of subjective OD, GD were 73.7 and 46.8% and decrease with
the severity of the disease. Females had higher prevalence of subjective
OD and GD compared with males. Diabetes was associated with a higher
risk to develop GD. Among the subset of patients who benefited from
psychophysical olfactory evaluations, there were 75 anosmic, 43 hyposmic
and 113 normosmic patients. The prevalence of anosmia significantly
decreased with the severity of the disease. Anosmia or hyposmia were not
associated with any nasal disorder, according to SNOT-22. Conclusion: OD
and GD are more prevalent in patients with mild COVID-19 compared with
individuals with moderate, severe or critical diseases. Females might
have a higher risk of developing OD and GD compared with males.