COVID: Taste and smell remain permanently affected in 5% of patients, according to a study

About 5% of people with COVID-19 have a permanent disturbance of their sense of smell or taste, estimates a large study published Thursday in the British Medical Journal, while it is still largely unknown how long these symptoms can last. The symbolism of the disease.

The authors of this work, published in one of the leading scientific journals, concluded: “It appears that a significant proportion of patients with COVID-19 develop a permanent alteration in their sense of taste or smell.”

Two and a half years into the pandemic, loss or disturbance of the sense of taste and smell has become among the most defining symptoms of Covid.

But there is a huge lack of numbers regarding its frequency and, above all, regarding the time it takes for it to subside and disappear.

To answer this, the study collected about two dozen previous works, which represent a total of more than 3,500 patients. This approach gives this type of study more weight than individual work.

At the end of this study, the authors concluded that after six months, 2% of patients said they had not regained their taste and 4% did the same with their sense of smell.

However, there is ambiguity as to the fact that these senses are fully restored, or only partially. With this component in mind, researchers estimate that these senses remain permanently disturbed in about 5% of patients – 5.6% for smell and 4.4% for taste.

It appears that women are affected more than men, which the study fails to explain.

The authors, however, put forward the path. Sensitivity to smell and taste tends to be higher at baseline in women; Thus the latter will notice a disturbance more easily.

This study, in fact, made the choice to retain only the works that are based on the statements of the patients themselves regarding the fact of the restoration of taste and smell. The latter is not evaluated by objective tests.

According to the authors, their numbers would likely be higher if studies based on this type of test were included. Objective evaluations tend to report more problems with taste and smell than patients do.