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CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · Int Arch Otorhinolaryngol 2023; 27(01): e143-e151
DOI: 10.1055/s-0042-1758716
Original Research

Anosmia in COVID-19 Patients: Can We Predict the Severity of Chest Manifestations?

Ehsan Hendawy 
1   Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Faculty of Medicine, Zagazig University, Zagazig, Egypt
,
Mohammad Waheed El-Anwar 
1   Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Faculty of Medicine, Zagazig University, Zagazig, Egypt
,
Reda M. Elghamry 
2   Department of Chest Disease, Faculty of Medicine, Zagazig University, Zagazig, Egypt
,
Amany M. Abdallah 
3   Department of Family Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Zagazig University, Zagazig, Egypt
,
Amin M. Ibrahim 
4   Department of Diagnostic Radiology, Faculty of Medicine, Zagazig University, Zagazig, Egypt
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Abstract

Introduction Anosmia is one of the common symptoms of COVID-19, the link between severity of chest infection and anosmia was investigated by few studies.

Objectives To find an association between anosmia and severity of chest infection.

Methods An analysis of patients admitted to isolation hospital of our university with confirmed polymerase chain reaction positive testing for COVID-19, between March 2021 until September 2021. We called all patients who reported anosmia during their time of illness and asked them about anosmia. We examined their chest CT. A statistical analysis was done.

Results A total of 140 patients completed the study; 65% were female and 56.4% had complete anosmia. Anosmia was significantly associated with loss of taste. Smell returned in 92.5% of anosmic patients. Duration of smell loss was ∼ 2 weeks in 40.5%. The most common symptoms associated with anosmia were running nose, sore throat, fever, and cough. Loss of smell was significantly associated with mild chest disease. 73.4% of anosmic patients had mild chest infection, 21.5% of them had moderate infection, and 5.1% had severe chest infection.

Conclusion The pattern of anosmia in COVID-19 patients has some common similarities in general; the way it starts, the associated symptoms, the time until smell returns and, the most important, the severity of chest infection. As anosmia is significantly associated with mild chest infection. the presence of anosmia could be an independent predictor of good COVID-19 outcome as reflected by a lower disease severity and less frequent ICU admissions.

Keywords

anosmia - COVID-19 - chest disease


Publication History

Received: 18 March 2022

Accepted: 22 August 2022

Article published online:
26 January 2023

© 2023. Fundação Otorrinolaringologia. This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonDerivative-NonCommercial License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit. Contents may not be used for commecial purposes, or adapted, remixed, transformed or built upon. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)

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