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. 2025 Jan-Dec:54:19160216251328960.
doi: 10.1177/19160216251328960. Epub 2025 May 3.

Psychological Distress in Patients with Long-lasting COVID-19 Olfactory Dysfunction

Manon Louvrier  1 , Sven Saussez  1   2 , Jerome R Lechien  1   3   2   4
Affiliations

Psychological Distress in Patients with Long-lasting COVID-19 Olfactory Dysfunction

Manon Louvrier et al. J Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg. 2025 Jan-Dec.

Abstract

ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to investigate the psychological distress associated with long-lasting COVID-19 olfactory dysfunction (OD).MethodsPatients with an OD lasting for more than 6 months were consecutively recruited from the Dour Medical Center (Belgium) from August 2023 to January 2024. The olfaction was investigated with the Olfactory Disorder Questionnaires (ODQ) and the threshold, identification, and discrimination (TDI) testing. General Anxiety Disorder (GAD-7) and Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) were used to investigate the psychological distress of patients. The olfactory and psychological outcomes of patients were compared with a group of individuals without OD.ResultsA total of 220 patients and 102 asymptomatic individuals completed the evaluations. The mean duration of OD was 31.1 ± 25.1 months. The mean GAD-7 and PHQ-9 scores were significantly higher in OD patients than in asymptomatic individuals (P < 0.008). The OD patient prevalence of mild-to-severe depression (51.2% vs. 44.1%) and mild-to-severe anxiety (39.5% vs. 32.4%) disorders was significantly higher than asymptomatic individuals. Severe anxiety was associated with the presence of anosmia. GAD-7 and PHQ-9 scores were higher in females than in males. The severity of depression (PHQ-9) and anxiety (GAD-7) was significantly associated with the severity of OD (ODQ) and nasal symptoms (SNOT-22).ConclusionThe presence of a long-lasting OD in patients consulting in otolaryngology is associated with psychological distress. While the causality relationship remains unclear, depression and anxiety symptoms must be investigated in this subgroup of patients with long COVID-19.

Keywords: anxiety; burden; depression; distress; head neck surgery; olfaction; olfactory; otolaryngology; otorhinolaryngology; psychophysical; smell.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Conflicting InterestsThe author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Figures

Graphical Abstract
Graphical Abstract
Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Proportion of mild-to-severe depression and anxiety disorders in patients versus asymptomatic individuals. Bars consist of the proportions of depression among groups. Abbreviations: GAD-7, General Anxiety Disorder-7; PHQ-9, Patient Health Questionnaire-9.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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