Olfactory and Gustatory Dysfunction in Coronavirus Disease 19 (COVID-19)

Abstract Objective: To evaluate the recovery rate and duration of olfactory and gustatory dysfunction of patients over a period of two months in the Iranian population.Methods: In this study, 305 patients with COVID-19 were enrolled and followed over a duration of 2 months. Binary logistic regression was employed to assess the association between olfactory and gustatory dysfunction with clinical manifestations and past medical history of patients.Results: Olfactory-gustatory dysfunction was reported in 103 (33.7%) patients. Of them, approximately 54.5% and 56.9% of patients did not recover from olfactory and gustatory dysfunction before 10 days, respectively. In addition, almost 21.8% and 20.1% of the patients did not recover from olfactory and gustatory dysfunction after two-month follow-up, respectively. Severe form of olfactory and gustatory dysfunction was reported in 93% and 74.7% of patients, respectively.Conclusion: We found that the majority of patients had olfactory and gustatory dysfunction for more than 10 days and about one fifth of patients did not recover after 60 days. Also, longer recovery time from olfactory and gustatory dysfunction was seen in patients who experienced the symptoms of weakness and dyspnea during the time of their disease.