Prevalence of olfactory dysfunction in COVID-19 patients

Nowadays COVID-19 has become a pandemic in which global society experience multiple difficulties in management. It seems that olfactory dysfunction is one of the early occurring symptoms of this viral infection and many patients just show this symptom after they got infected. Considering so, olfactory dysfunction especially a decline in olfaction could potentially be used for screening purposes and preventing the disease to spread.

50 PCR-verified SARS-CoV-2 infected participants were assessed about their olfactory function adequacy using a Modified Version of the University of Pennsylvania Smell Identification Test (UPSIT) for the Iranian population called Iran Smell Identification Test (Iran-SIT). Participants scores were compared against normal population scores in this test and possible correlations of age and scores were explored as well.

Participants with SARS-CoV-2 infection generally obtained lesser scores in the mentioned test which means they experience a decline in olfactory function more, significantly. Aging also has a negative correlation with olfaction adequacy.

Based on this article’s finding, olfactory function decrease is more frequent among SARS-CoV-2 infected people and potentially could be a suggestive indicator for screening programs. This indicator should be interpreted concerning patients’ age.