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Persisting olfactory dysfunction in post-COVID-19 is associated with gustatory impairment: Results from chemosensitive testing eight months after the acute infection.

Author
Abstract
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Olfactory and gustatory disorders are prominent symptoms of acute COVID-19. Although both senses recover in many patients within weeks to months, persistency has been described in up to 60%. However up to now most reports on the course of chemosensitive disorders after COVID-19 are not based on psychophysical testing but only on subjective patients' ratings. In this study we assessed both olfaction and gustation using psychophysical tests eight months after COVID-19. Validated psychophysical testing revealed hyposmia in 18% and hypogeusia in even 32% of 303 included patients. This shows that olfactory and especially gustatory disorders have to be seen as important chronic symptoms post-COVID-19. The high prevalence of gustatory dysfunction indicates that gustatory function does not recover or might even deteriorate in the months following the acute infection.

Year of Publication
:
0
Journal
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PloS one
Volume
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17
Issue
:
3
Number of Pages
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e0265686
Date Published
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2022
URL
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https://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0265686
DOI
:
10.1371/journal.pone.0265686
Short Title
:
PLoS One
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