key: cord-0780691-6ku9jxtj
authors: Otte, MS; Klussmann, JP; Luers, JC
title: Persisting olfactory dysfunction in patients after recovering from COVID-19
date: 2020-06-24
journal: J Infect
DOI: 10.1016/j.jinf.2020.06.054
sha: 8163c59209d9dcba479126dd2919513e02496cc6
doc_id: 780691
cord_uid: 6ku9jxtj

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the peripheral olfactory system, identification and discrimination are thought to at least partially represent central olfactory performances. The 3 subtests form the TDI score, representing the overall olfactory function.

Our sample consisted of 50 consecutive patients (mean age 43.2 years (range 23-69) who presented in the outpatient clinic for recovered COVID-19 patients at the University of Cologne, Germany. All of them were PCR-confirmed COVID-19 cases, having recovered at least three weeks previously. 94 % of patients reported a sudden loss of smell during the course of the disease. At the time of olfactory testing, 38 % of the patients stated to still suffer from olfactory impairment, while 61.7 % of the patients reported that smelling recovered completely.

Sniffing test results indicated that 26 patients (52 %) were hyposmic (mean TDI: 26.86), whereas only 23 patients (46 %) were normosmic (mean TDI: 34.23). One subject (1.9 %) had a TDI score of 11 and was therefore considered anosmic. The results of the olfactory TDI subtests significantly differed between normosmic and hyposmic patients, i.e. hyposmic patients suffered from olfactory identification, discrimination and showed a lower threshold (all ps < 0.003). Both groups were homogenous (p > 0.05 each) in terms of patients' age, sex, smoking history and the number of days passed since PCR virus detection or onset of symptoms. Interestingly, subjective estimation of the olfactory function by the patients correlated weakly with the determined TDI values. In the group of normosmics (n=23), 7 participants (30.43 %) complained of subjectively persistent olfactory problems, 16 (69.57 %) did not. In the hyposmic group (n=26), only half of the patients (n=13 (50 %)) continued to complain, while the rest felt recovered.

We feel that clinicians should be aware that olfactory dysfunction may persist in patients after recovering from COVID-19, even if the patients themselves state otherwise. Likewise,

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