C Hopkins1, P Surda2, N Kumar3. 1. Guy's and St Thomas'; Hospitals, London, United Kingdom; King's College, London, United Kingdom. 2. Guy's and St Thomas’ Hospitals, London, United Kingdom. 3. Edge Hill University Medical School, Orsmkirk, United Kingdom.
Abstract
INTRODUCTION: Anosmia has not been formally recognised as a symptom of COVID-19 infection. Growing anecdotal evidence suggests increasing incidence of cases of anosmia during the current pandemic, suggesting that COVID-19 may cause olfactory dysfunction. The objective was to characterise patients reporting new onset anosmia during the COVID-19 pandemic METHODOLOGY: Design: Survey of 2428 patients reporting new onset anosmia during the COVID-19 pandemic. SETTING: Volunteer sample of patients seeking medical advice of recent onset self-diagnosed loss of sense of smell RESULTS: 2428 surveys were completed within 7 days; 64% respondents were under 40. The majority of respondents reported onset of their anosmia in the last week. Of the cohort, 17% did not report any other symptom thought to be associated with COVID-19. In patients who reported other symptoms, 51% reported either cough or fever and therefore met current guidelines for self-isolation. CONCLUSIONS: Anosmia is reported in conjunction with well-reported symptoms of coronas virus, but 1 in 6 patients with recent onset anosmia report this as an isolated symptom. This might help identify otherwise asymptomatic carriers of disease and trigger targeted testing. Further study with COVID-19 testing is required to identify the proportion of patients in whom new onset anosmia can be attributed to COVID-19.
INTRODUCTION:Anosmia has not been formally recognised as a symptom of COVID-19infection. Growing anecdotal evidence suggests increasing incidence of cases of anosmia during the current pandemic, suggesting that COVID-19 may cause olfactory dysfunction. The objective was to characterise patients reporting new onset anosmia during the COVID-19 pandemic METHODOLOGY: Design: Survey of 2428 patients reporting new onset anosmia during the COVID-19 pandemic. SETTING: Volunteer sample of patients seeking medical advice of recent onset self-diagnosed loss of sense of smell RESULTS: 2428 surveys were completed within 7 days; 64% respondents were under 40. The majority of respondents reported onset of their anosmia in the last week. Of the cohort, 17% did not report any other symptom thought to be associated with COVID-19. In patients who reported other symptoms, 51% reported either cough or fever and therefore met current guidelines for self-isolation. CONCLUSIONS:Anosmia is reported in conjunction with well-reported symptoms of coronas virus, but 1 in 6 patients with recent onset anosmia report this as an isolated symptom. This might help identify otherwise asymptomatic carriers of disease and trigger targeted testing. Further study with COVID-19 testing is required to identify the proportion of patients in whom new onset anosmia can be attributed to COVID-19.
Authors: Ludger Klimek; Jan Hagemann; Julia Döge; Laura Freudelsperger; Mandy Cuevas; Felix Klimek; Thomas Hummel Journal: Allergo J Int Date: 2022-06-20
Authors: E Lin; J E Lantos; S B Strauss; C D Phillips; T R Campion; B B Navi; N S Parikh; A E Merkler; S Mir; C Zhang; H Kamel; M Cusick; P Goyal; A Gupta Journal: AJNR Am J Neuroradiol Date: 2020-08-20 Impact factor: 3.825