Early recovery patterns of olfactory disorders in COVID-19 patients; a clinical cohort study

INTRODUCTION: A rapidly evolving evidence suggests that smell dysfunction is a common symptom in COVID-19 infection with paucity of data on its duration and recovery rate. OBJECTIVES: Delineate the different patterns of olfactory disorders recovery in patients with COVID-19. METHODS: This cross-sectional cohort study included 96 patients with olfactory complaint confirmed to be COVID-19 positive with recent onset of anosmia. All patients were inquired for smell recovery patterns using self-assessment questionnaires. RESULTS: Ninety six patients completed the study with mean age 34.26 ± 11.91 years. Most patients had sudden anosmia 83%. Loss of smell was accompanied by nonspecific inflammatory symptoms as low-grade fever (17%) and generalized body ache (25%). Nasal symptoms were reported by 33% of patients. Some patients reported comorbidities as D.M (16%), hypertension (8%) or associated allergic rhinitis (25%), different patterns of olfactory recovery showed 32 patients experiencing full recovery (33.3%) while, 40 patients showed partial recovery (41.7%) after a mean of 11 days while 24 patients (25%) showed no recovery within one month from onset of anosmia. CONCLUSION: The sudden olfactory dysfunction is a common symptom in patients with COVID-19. Hyposmia patients recover more rapidly than anosmic ones while the middle age group carried the best prognosis in olfactory recovery. Females possess better potentiality in regaining smell after recovery and the association of comorbidities worsen the recovery rate of olfactory dysfunction in patients with COVID19. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Level 2b a cross-sectional cohort study.