The number of people with post-COVID-19 syndrome seems to be growing exponentially, so we need long-term data to help physicians advise patients correctly.
Among the many persistent symptoms, post-COVID-19 anosmia has good prognosis and almost full recovery at 1 year.
In April, 2020, these same authors published a cohort of almost 100 COVID-19 positive patients (positive PCR) with acute smell loss beyond 7 days.
During the 1-year follow-up, patients were asked to complete a survey regarding their olfactory function every 4 months.
Hyposmic or anosmic patients were followed until objective olfactory recovery.
About half of them were evaluated using subjective and objective olfactory tests. The other half underwent subjective assessment alone.
After the first assessment, at 4 months, 45.1% of patients reported full recovery of olfaction, 52.9% reported partial recovery, and 2% reported no recovery.
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In the group that was able to undergo a test to objectify olfactory function, 84.3% showed a normal result—although 70% of patients stated that they had only partially recovered their sense of smell.
The remaining 15.7% showed abnormal subjective and objective tests, and these patients were re-evaluated at 8 months.
After 4 months, objective tests confirmed full recovery in almost all patients.
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Only 2 patients continued with abnormal tests at 1 year: one patient with decreased olfaction and one with parosmia (abnormal smell identification).
Conclusion
COVID-19 related persistent anosmia has great prognosis and is almost fully resolved after one year.
Original Title: Clinical Outcomes for Patients With Anosmia 1 Year After COVID-19 Diagnosis.
Reference: Marion Renaud et al. JAMA Network Open. 2021;4(6):e2115352. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2021.15352.
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