Department of Otorhinolaryngology and Head and Neck Surgery, Meir Medical Center, 59 Tchernichovsky St., 4428164, Kfar Saba, Israel.
Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel.
Eur Arch Otorhinolaryngol. 2024 Nov;281(11):6001-6007. doi: 10.1007/s00405-024-08827-2. Epub 2024 Jul 8.
To estimate long-term prognosis of chemosensory dysfunctions among patients recovering from COVID-19 disease.
Between April 2020 and July 2022, we conducted a prospective, observational study enrolling 48 patients who experienced smell and/or taste dysfunction during the acute-phase of COVID-19. Patients were evaluated for chemosensory function up to 24 months after disease onset.
During the acute-phase of COVID-19, 80% of patients reported anosmia, 15% hyposmia, 63% ageusia, and 33% hypogeusia. At two years' follow-up, 53% still experienced smell impairment, and 42% suffered from taste impairment. Moreover, 63% of patients who reported parosmia remained with olfactory disturbance. Interestingly, we found a negative correlation between visual analogue scale scores for smell and taste impairments during the acute-phase of COVID-19 and the likelihood of long-term recovery.
Our study sheds light on the natural history and long-term follow-up of chemosensory dysfunction in patients recovering from COVID-19 disease. Most patients who initially suffered from smell and/or taste disturbance did not reach full recovery after 2 years follow-up. The severity of impairment may serve as a prognostic indicator for full recovery.
评估 COVID-19 康复患者的化学感觉功能障碍的长期预后。
2020 年 4 月至 2022 年 7 月，我们进行了一项前瞻性、观察性研究，纳入了 48 名在 COVID-19 急性期经历嗅觉和/或味觉功能障碍的患者。患者在发病后 24 个月内接受化学感觉功能评估。
在 COVID-19 急性期，80%的患者报告嗅觉丧失，15%的患者嗅觉减退，63%的患者味觉丧失，33%的患者味觉减退。在两年的随访中，53%的患者仍存在嗅觉障碍，42%的患者存在味觉障碍。此外，63%报告嗅觉异常的患者仍存在嗅觉障碍。有趣的是，我们发现 COVID-19 急性期嗅觉和味觉障碍的视觉模拟评分与长期恢复的可能性之间存在负相关。
我们的研究阐明了 COVID-19 康复患者化学感觉功能障碍的自然史和长期随访情况。大多数最初经历嗅觉和/或味觉障碍的患者在 2 年随访后未完全恢复。损伤的严重程度可能是完全恢复的预后指标。
