A cross-sectional study to assess the prevalence of anosmia and ageusia and its association with disease severity among COVID-19 affected patients in Salem, Tamil Nadu

INTRODUCTION: An epidemic of the severe acute respiratory syndrome was started in 2019 in Wuhan city, China. Due to international trade and travel, this disease has become a pandemic across the world. The agent causing this disease was named Corona Virus Disease 2019 by (COVID-19) by the World Health Organization (WHO). The following study was done with the objective of estimating the prevalence of anosmia and ageusia and its association with disease severity among COVID-19 affected individuals. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A cross-sectional analytical study was conducted among COVID-19 patients in a tertiary hospital in Salem, Tamil Nadu. The data were collected using a semi-structured questionnaire, which consisted of demographic details such as age, gender, and place, clinical symptoms, and signs such as fever, loss of taste, breathing difficulty, loss of smell, sore throat, and fatigability, vital signs, and co-morbidities. RESULTS: In this study, we found that the severity of the disease (according to CT chest scores) among the study participants had a statistically significant association with breathlessness and headache. CONCLUSION: The symptoms of headache and breathlessness have statistically significant associations with disease severity that can be used in any setting to classify the COVID-19 case as who is eligible for home isolation, and who is eligible for admission or to be referred.