The Loss of Smell and Taste in the COVID-19 Outbreak, A Cross Sectional Study

Abstract

Background: A significant proportion of people infected with COVID-19 report new onset of smell and taste loss. The duration of the chemosensory impairment and prognostic factors of recovery is still unclear. We aimed to investigate the prevalence rate and other signs and symptoms which are predictors in patients. Objective: To find out the association of Anosmia and Ageusia with COVID-19. To find out relationship of Gender with Anosmia and Ageusia in COVID-19 or other URTI. Methods: I was a cross-sectional study, participants were from CMH, Multan, Hospitals of different cities of the province of Punjab, Pakistan. The study was conducted from 1st July to 31st of August 2021. 185. All faculty members and medical Students of CMH Bahawalpur. Results: Out of 185 participants, 99 (53.5%) were male and 86 (46.5%) were female. The mean age was 23.93 ± 6.661years. Pearson correlation of covid-19 with loss of smell is 0.533 which shows that there is strong positive relationship between them. On one-way ANOVA fever sig. is 0.002 which shows high significance. URTI also shows association but other signs and symptoms like dyspnoea, dry cough do not show any significance. Shows the majority of participants are suffering from taste and smell loss (95.1%) along with body aches (82.7%), dyspnoea (94.6%), acute dry cough (36.2%), URTI (19.5%) and fever (36.2%).