Department of Otolaryngology, Hitit University Erol Olçok Training and Research Hospital, Çorum, Turkey.
Department of Infectious Diseases and Clinical Microbiology, Hitit University Erol Olçok Training and Research Hospital, Çorum, Turkey.
Eur Arch Otorhinolaryngol. 2021 Jul;278(7):2363-2369. doi: 10.1007/s00405-020-06516-4. Epub 2021 Jan 1.
Since many different rates have been reported in the literature and the studies conducted are mostly based on the patient anamnesis, it was aimed to analyze the olfactory dysfunction in Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) quantitatively and to reveal its progress by time.
Patients who described new-onset olfactory dysfunction, who were treated in the COVID-19 departments of our hospital and whose PCR tests demonstrated SARS-CoV-2 presence were included in the study and they were investigated prospectively. Clinical information of all the patients was taken and the levels of olfactory function were detected using the Brief Smell Identification Test (BSIT). Scores equal to or below 8 are considered as olfactory dysfunction. Patients who were followed up for 3 months were reevaluated with the BSIT test at the end of the third month and the progression of the symptom was investigated.
The mean BSIT test score of the 42 patients (23 female patients, 19 male patients, mean age: 41.2 ± 14.6) was 5.2 ± 2.2. There was severe olfactory dysfunction in 16.7% of the patients (0-2 points), moderate olfactory dysfunction in 31% (3-5 points), and mild olfactory dysfunction in 52.4% (6-8 points). After a follow-up for 3 months, full recovery was observed in 36 patients (85.7%) and the mean test score rose to 9.9 ± 1.8. Although olfactory dysfunction persisted in 6 patients, an elevation in test scores was noted. Olfactory dysfunction was the first symptom in 17 patients (40%) and the other symptoms occurred after 2 days (1-6) on average.
We investigated olfactory dysfunction caused by COVID-19 using BSIT, and found a high rate of moderate-mild level symptoms with a high level of recovery in the 3-month follow-up. The finding revealing that olfactory dysfunction was the first symptom in 40% of the patients suggests the importance of inquiry on olfactory functions for the early diagnosis of the disease.
由于文献中报道了许多不同的发生率，并且所进行的研究主要基于患者病史，因此本研究旨在定量分析 2019 年冠状病毒病（COVID-19）中的嗅觉功能障碍，并揭示其随时间的进展。
本研究纳入了在我院 COVID-19 科就诊并描述新发嗅觉功能障碍且 PCR 检测证实存在 SARS-CoV-2 的患者，并进行前瞻性研究。所有患者的临床信息均被采集，使用简短嗅觉识别测试（BSIT）检测嗅觉功能水平。评分等于或低于 8 分被认为存在嗅觉功能障碍。在第 3 个月结束时，对随访 3 个月的患者再次进行 BSIT 测试，并对症状的进展进行评估。
42 例患者（23 例女性患者，19 例男性患者，平均年龄：41.2±14.6）的平均 BSIT 测试评分为 5.2±2.2。16.7%的患者（0-2 分）存在严重嗅觉功能障碍，31%的患者（3-5 分）存在中度嗅觉功能障碍，52.4%的患者（6-8 分）存在轻度嗅觉功能障碍。随访 3 个月后，36 例患者（85.7%）完全恢复，平均测试评分升高至 9.9±1.8。尽管 6 例患者的嗅觉功能障碍持续存在，但测试评分有所升高。17 例患者（40%）以嗅觉功能障碍为首发症状，其他症状平均在 2 天后（1-6 天）出现。
我们使用 BSIT 研究了 COVID-19 引起的嗅觉功能障碍，发现 3 个月随访中，中度至轻度水平的症状发生率较高，且恢复率较高。嗅觉功能障碍是 40%患者首发症状的发现提示了询问嗅觉功能对疾病早期诊断的重要性。
