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?:abstract
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BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE Since China\'s initial anecdotal reports of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), there have been a growing number of studies describing smell and/or taste dysfunction (STD). Objective: The aim was to investigate the frequency and severity of STD in COVID-19 patients and to evaluate the association with demographic characteristics, hospital admission, symptoms, comorbidities, and blood biomarkers. METHODS A multicenter cross-sectional study on SARS-CoV-2 positive patients (n=846) and controls (n=143) from 15 Spanish Hospitals. Data of STD with an in-person survey was collected prospectively. STD severity was categorized by visual analogue scale. STD onset time, recovery rate, time to recovery, hospital admission, pneumonia diagnosis, comorbidities, smoking and symptoms were analyzed. RESULTS STD were at least 2-fold more common in COVID-19-positive compared to controls. In COVID-19-positive, hospitalized patients were older, with lower frequency of STD and recovered earlier than out-patients. Stratified analysis by severity of STD showed that more than a half of COVID-19 subjects presented severe loss of smell (53.7%) or taste (52.2%), in >90% this impairment was of both senses. In the multivariate analysis, an older age (>60yo), being hospitalized and an increased level of C-reactive protein were factors associated with a better sense of smell and/or taste. COVID-19-positive patients reported improvement of smell (45.6%) and taste (46.1%) at the time of the survey, 90.6% in less than two weeks\' post-infection. CONCLUSIONS STD is a common symptom in COVID-19, and mainly present in young and non-hospitalized patients. More studies are needed to evaluate the follow-up of the chemosensory impairment.
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