At least 27 million Covid patients with long-term taste and smell problems

About 5% of adults can develop lasting changes in their sense of self. smell or of taste after an infection Covid-19as suggested an investigation published by the BMJ.

More than 550 million of confirmed coronavirus cases to date, this means that at least 15 million and 12 million adult patients may have impaired sense of smell and taste in long termrespectively.

given the huge repercussion that the loss of smell and taste can have on the quality of life and general health, this could contribute to the increasing burden of covid Long termresearchers warn.

O disturbance from both directions is common in patients infected with SARS-CoV-2, with an average of 40-50% of affected people reporting these symptom. However, little is known about their clinical course or how many of them develop persistent problems.

to address this lack of knowledge, an international research team led by experts from the National University of Singapore analyzed data from 3,699 patients. They found that the loss of smell can persist in 5.6% of them, while 4.4% may not recover their sense of taste.

Likewise, at 30 days after the initial infection, only 74% reported the Recovery of smell and 79% of taste. However, recovery rates increased over the months, peaking at 96% for smell and 98% for taste after six months.

At women were less likely to to recover sense of smell and taste than men, while patients with greater initial severity of smell loss and those with nasal congestion they were less likely to regain that sense.

Study limitations

Scientists recognize several limitations in your analysis. For example, the quality of included studies varied and was based on self-reportwhich they say “may overestimate recovery, suggesting that the true burden of olfactory dysfunction is even greater”.

In fact, the authors state that, although it is expected that the the majority of patients regain their sense of smell or taste within the first three months, “an important group may develop a lasting dysfunction that requires timely identification, personalized treatment and long-term follow-up.”

“Our findings are likely to have a substantial relevance for general practitioners and otolaryngologists in advising patients with disorders of smell and taste after covid-19”, they conclude.