Olfactory and Taste Dysfunction in Coronavirus Disease 2019 Pandemic

This study is done to raise awareness of olfactory and taste dysfunction association in coronavirus disease, urging early detection and isolation of coronavirus positive patients thus breaking the chain of transmission of disease. This is a retrospective observational study done in outpatient department of tertiary care hospital in Mumbai, west India from 1st May 2020 to 1st August 2020 on patients who were confirmed positive for COVID-19 by real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (rRT-PCR) and having olfactory dysfunction and/or taste disorders. In study population, anosmia and ageusia occurred in 88% and 83.33% respectively. In control population, anosmia and ageusia occurred in 93% and 85.71% respectively. The mean duration of anosmia was around 2 weeks and 3 weeks for study and control group respectively. In study population 94.6% recovered from anosmia, whereas in control population 64.3% recovered from anosmia. Anosmia gradually improved to hyposmia. In the study population 94.3% hyposmia patients showed recovery, while in control population 85.2% showed recovery. Ageusia collaborated with the duration of anosmia. Recovery from taste dysfunction was 88.6% and 63.9% in study and control population respectively. Olfactory and taste dysfunction are very important clinical features of coronavirus positive patients with anosmia being the most prominent symptom. All patients presenting with smell and or taste dysfunction should be screened for coronavirus disease, helping in early detection in asymptomatic patients.