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. 2023 Jun;75(2):772-776.
doi: 10.1007/s12070-022-03426-1. Epub 2023 Jan 19.

Upper Airway Mucociliary Clearance is Impaired in Dyspneic COVID-19 Patients

Rogério Pezato  1   2   3 , Andrea Goldwasser David  2   3 , Alexandre Coelho Boggi  3   4 , Bruna Melo  5 , Claudia Maria Valete Rosalino  5 , Athenea Pascual Rodriguez  2 , Andrew Thamboo  2 , Richard Louis Voegels  1
Affiliations

Upper Airway Mucociliary Clearance is Impaired in Dyspneic COVID-19 Patients

Rogério Pezato et al. Indian J Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg. 2023 Jun.

Abstract

Covid-19 is transmitted mainly by respiratory droplets and as the upper airway mucosa is the first innate immune barrier, it is crucial to understand the effects of SARS-CoV-2 on this system. In the current study, we aimed to evaluate the nasal mucociliary clearance in patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection and their symptom development. Observational cross-sectional study. The nasal mucociliary clearance (NMC) time was evaluated by the saccharin test and the results were compared between patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection (group 1) and controls (group 2, asymptomatic patients with a negative polymerase chain reaction test). We also compared the NMC time for each specific symptom suffered by participants in group 1 with the NMC time of the control group as well as with the patients in group 1 who were asymptomatic. There was a significant increase in NMC time in group 1 with dyspnea when compared to the control group (p = 0.032) and also when compared to patients who were infected were not dyspneic (p = 0.04). There were no differences in the clearance times when considering other symptoms. COVID-19 patients with dyspnea present with altered nasal mucociliary clearance.

Keywords: Anosmia; COVID-19; Mucociliary clearance; SARS-CoV-2; Saccharin.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of interestThe authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Nasal mucociliary clearance comparison between SARS-CoV-2+ patients with dyspnea and non-infected subjects (control group)
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Nasal mucociliary clearance comparison between SARS-CoV-2+ patients with and without dyspnea
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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