Taste and Smell Impairment in COVID‐19: An AAO‐HNS Anosmia Reporting Tool‐Based Comparative Study
İbrahim Sayın, Kadriye Kart Yaşar, Zahide Mine Yazıcı
Abstract
Objective To identify the taste and smell impairment in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19)–positive subjects and compare the findings with COVID‐19–negative subjects using the American Academy of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery (AAO‐HNS) Anosmia Reporting Tool. Setting Tertiary referral center/COVID‐19 pandemic hospital. Study Design Comparative study. Subjects and Methods After power analysis, 128 subjects were divided into 2 groups according to real‐time polymerase chain reaction (RT‐PCR) COVID‐19 testing results. Subjects were called via telephone, and the AAO‐HNS Anosmia Reporting Tool was used to collect responses. Results The mean age of the study group was 38.63 ± 10.08 years. At the time of sampling, rhinorrhea was significantly high in the COVID‐19–negative group, whereas those complaints described as “other” were significantly high in the COVID‐19–positive group. There was a significant difference in the smell/taste impairment rates of the groups (n = 46% [71.9%] for the COVID‐19–positive group vs n = 17 [26.6%] for the COVID‐19–negative group, P =. 001). For subjects with a smell impairment, anosmia rates did not differ between the groups. The rates of hyposmia and parosmia were significantly high in the COVID‐19–positive group. For the subjects with taste impairment, ageusia rates did not differ between groups. The rate of hypogeusia and dysgeusia was significantly high in the COVID‐19–positive group. Logistic regression analysis indicates that smell/taste impairment in COVID‐19–positive subjects increases the odds ratio by 6.956 (95% CI, 3.16‐15.29) times. Conclusion COVID‐19–positive subjects are strongly associated with smell/taste impairment.