[Post-COVID patients with persistent chemosensory symptoms are rare in the general population].

Abstract

Objective: The prevalence of long-/post-COVID-associated chemosensory symptoms is reported in the literature to be significantly higher than clinical reality reflects.

Methods: 1. N= 4062 adults acutely infected with SARS-CoV-2 and their symptoms transmitted by the Jena health office to the Robert Koch Institute between March 2020 and September 2021 were evaluated. 2. Part of the same cohort (N = 909 of 4062) answered an extensive questionnaire at least 3 months after the start of the infection, including existing chemosensory post-COVID-associated complaints. 3. Fourteen post-COVID Jena patients with chemosensory symptoms who had become acutely infected during the same period were diagnosed, treated and advised in our ENT specialist outpatient clinic.

Results: The prevalence of chemosensory symptoms at the onset of infection was 19% (600/3187). About every second written respondent of the formerly acutely infected (441/890) remembered chemosensory symptoms during their COVID-19 infection. Of these, around 38% (167/441) complained of persistent chemosensory post-COVID symptoms after an average of 14.5 months. Only 2.3% (14/600) of the previously acutely infected patients with chemosensory symptoms sought medical help in a special consultation. Quantitative chemosensory damage could only be objectified in half, i.e. 1.2% (7/600) of the total cohort.

Conclusions: Despite a high prevalence of subjective chemosensory symptoms in acutely and formerly SARS-CoV-2 infected people, there is only a low need for specialized treatment, so that, unlike other post-COVID-associated complaints, the healthcare system as a whole appears to be less significantly burdened.