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. 2022 Jan 18;19(3):1047.
doi: 10.3390/ijerph19031047.

Investigation on the Factors Associated with the Persistence of Anosmia and Ageusia in Saudi COVID-19 Patients

Saad N Algahtani  1 , Abdullah F Alzarroug  1 , Hatan K Alghamdi  1 , Haif K Algahtani  1 , Nasser B Alsywina  1 , Khalid A Bin Abdulrahman  1
Affiliations

Investigation on the Factors Associated with the Persistence of Anosmia and Ageusia in Saudi COVID-19 Patients

Saad N Algahtani et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health. .

Abstract

The Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) resulted in a worldwide pandemic of a highly infectious disease. The difficulty of dealing with COVID-19 is the broad spectrum of clinical manifestations that involves various pathophysiological mechanisms, severities, duration, and complications. This study aims to help emphasize the factors related to the persistence and duration of anosmia (loss of smell) and ageusia (loss of taste) as part of post-acute COVID-19 syndrome in Saudi COVID-19 patients via a retrospective cross-sectional design. Eight hundred and eighty-one participants were recruited between March and April 2021. Those participants were 18 years or older, recovered from the COVID-19 infection, and completed 14 days after the onset of the acute phase of the disease. Among the 881 recruited participants, 808 have submitted eligible responses and were included in data analyses. The most common persistent symptoms in post-acute COVID-19 syndrome were anosmia (33.8%) and ageusia (26.4%). The data also showed a significant association between female sex and the incidence and the persistence of anosmia and ageusia. In multivariable analysis, anosmia during the acute phase was associated with BMI, asthma and shortness of breath, while anosmia during the post-acute phase was associated with sex. Ageusia during the acute phase was associated with sex, myalgia and arthralgia, while ageusia in the post-acute phase was associated with sex.

Keywords: COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; Saudi Arabia; ageusia; anosmia; post-acute COVID-19 syndrome.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
The association between sex and the duration of persistent anosmia and/or ageusia (p = 0.001).
Figure 2
Figure 2
The association between the use of treatments and the duration of persistent anosmia and/or ageusia (p = 0.002).
Figure 3
Figure 3
Boxplot of the number of days for each stage of loss of smell.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Boxplot of the number of days for each stage of loss of taste.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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