%0 Journal Article
%A Izquierdo-Domínguez, A
%A Rojas-Lechuga, M J
%A Chiesa-Estomba, C
%A Calvo-Henríquez, C
%A Ninchritz-Becerra, E
%A Soriano-Reixach, M
%A Poletti-Serafini, D
%A Villarreal, I M
%A Maza-Solano, J M
%A Moreno-Luna, R
%A Villarroel, P P
%A Mateos-Serrano, B
%A Agudelo, D
%A Valcarcel, F
%A Del Cuvillo, A
%A Santamaría, A
%A Mariño-Sánchez, F
%A Aguilar, J
%A Vergés, P
%A Inciarte, A
%A Soriano, A
%A Mullol, J
%A Alobid, I
%T Smell and Taste Dysfunction in COVID-19 Is Associated With Younger Age in Ambulatory Settings: A Multicenter Cross-Sectional Study.
%D 2020
%@ 1018-9068
%U http://hdl.handle.net/10668/15761
%X Since the initial anecdotal reports of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) from China, a growing number of studies have reported on smell and/or taste dysfunction (STD). Objective: The aim of our study was to investigate the frequency and severity of STD in COVID-19 patients and to evaluate the association with demographic characteristics, hospital admission, symptoms, comorbidities, and blood biomarkers. We performed a multicenter cross-sectional study on patients who were positive for SARS-CoV-2 (n=846) and controls (n=143) from 15 Spanish hospitals. Data on STD were collected prospectively using an in-person survey. The severity of STD was categorized using a visual analog scale. We analyzed time to onset, recovery rate, time to recovery, hospital admission, pneumonia, comorbidities, smoking, and symptoms. STD was at least 2-fold more common in COVID-19-positive patients than in controls. COVID-19-positive hospitalized patients were older, with a lower frequency of STD, and recovered earlier than outpatients. Analysis stratified by severity of STD showed that more than half of COVID-19 patients presented severe loss of smell (53.7%) or taste (52.2%); both senses were impaired in >90%. In the multivariate analysis, older age (>60 years), being hospitalized, and increased C-reactive protein were associated with a better sense of smell and/or taste. COVID-19-positive patients reported improvement in smell (45.6%) and taste (46.1%) at the time of the survey; in 90.6% this was within 2 weeks of infection. STD is a common symptom in COVID-19 and presents mainly in young and nonhospitalized patients. More studies are needed to evaluate follow-up of chemosensory impairment.
%K COVID-19
%K Hospital admission
%K Loss of smell
%K Loss of taste
%K SARS-CoV-2
%~