Taste Dysfunction in COVID-19 Patients; A Cross-Sectional Observational Study

Abstract

Introduction:It has been observed that olfactory dysfunction (anosmia, hyposmia and parosmia) and gustatory (taste) dysfunction (ageusia, hypogeusia and dysgeusia) are one of the classical presentations of COVID-19. Gustatory (taste) dysfunction attributable partly to loss of retro-nasal olfaction (which adds to the flavour, a component of taste sensation) while eating or drinking food.

Materials and methods:It is a cross sectional observational study involving COVID-19 patients aged between 18 to 100 years. Taste dysfunction was analysed and compared with various inflammatory markers and sino-nasal symptoms.

Results:In this time bound study, 61.88 % of the study participants were male and 38.13 % were females. Majority of the participants were in the age group between 20 and 60 years. Fifty four (33.75%) developed gustatory dysfunction in the form of ageusia or hypogeusia. Among the individuals with ageusia/hypogeusia, majority of the patients (n=26) (48.15%) complained of 50-75% loss of taste sensation followed by 50-75% loss of taste sensation in fourteen (25.93%) patients.  Mean duration of ageusia/hypogeusia among 54 patients was 9.33 ± 4.13 days. There was no statistically significant association between gustatory or taste dysfunction with any of the above serum inflammatory markers. There was significant relationship between presence sino-nasal symptoms and development of taste dysfunction.

Conclusion:Ageusia (dysgeusia) was found in significant proportion of patients with covid-19. These symptoms also contribute to significant proportion of depression and low confidence and results in poor nutrition and subsequent nutritional deficiencies which may lead to long Covid syndrome.