STATE ISLAND, NY – A new medical study confirmed Tuesday that loss of taste and smell is the most common symptom of coronavirus (COVID-19) infection in those with mild symptoms.
The study, published in the Journal of Internal Medicine, confirmed that nearly 86% of people with a mild case of the coronavirus have lost their senses of taste and smell.
Yet only about 4% to 7% of those with a ‘moderate to severe’ COVID-19 infection reported a loss of taste and smell, researchers said.
Olfactory dysfunction (ID) at COVID – 19 patients were studied from 22 March 2020 to 3 June 2020 among 2500 patients from 18 European hospitals.
Mild patients are defined as patients without evidence of viral pneumonia or hypoxia and are usually cared for at home. Moderate COVID – 19 patients had clinical signs of pneumonia but no signs of severe pneumonia. Severe COVID-19 patients were defined as individuals with clinical signs of severe pneumonia and respiratory distress.
The loss of senses remained during different periods, researchers found.
“OD disappears in 95% of patients with respect to objective olfactory evaluations at six months,” researchers announced.
Researchers have also reported that younger COVID-19 patients are more likely to lose their taste and smell than older patients.