This study prospectively assessed the 6-month prevalence of self-reported and psychophysically measured olfactory dysfunction in subjects with mild-to-moderate COVID-19. Self-reported smell or taste impairment was prospectively evaluated by SNOT-22 at diagnosis, 4-week, 8-week, and 6-month. At 6 months from the diagnosis, psychophysical evaluation of olfactory function was also performed using the 34-item culturally adapted University of Pennsylvania Smell Identification Test (CA-UPSIT). 145 completed both the 6-month subjective and psychophysical olfactory evaluation. According to CA-UPSIT, 87 subjects (60.0%) exhibited some smell dysfunction, with 10 patients being anosmic (6.9%) and seven being severely microsmic (4.8%). At the time CA-UPSIT was administered, a weak correlation was observed between the self-reported alteration of the sense of smell or taste and olfactory test scores (Spearman’s r = −0.26). Among 112 patients who self-reported normal sense of smell at last follow-up, CA-UPSIT revealed normal smell in 46 (41.1%), mild microsmia in 46 (41.1%), moderate microsmia in 11 (9.8%), severe microsmia in 3 (2.3%), and anosmia in 6 (5.4%) patients; however, of those patients self-reporting normal smell but who were found to have hypofunction on testing, 62 out of 66 had a self-reported reduction in sense of smell or taste at an earlier time point. Despite most patients report a subjectively normal sense of smell, we observed a high percentage of persistent smell dysfunction at 6 months from the diagnosis of syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection, with 11.7% of patients being anosmic or severely microsmic. These data highlight a significant long-term rate of smell alteration in patients with previous SARS-COV-2 infection.

中文翻译：

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COVID-19 患者嗅觉功能障碍的六个月心理物理评估

本研究前瞻性评估了轻度至中度 COVID-19 受试者自我报告和心理测量的嗅觉功能障碍的 6 个月患病率。SNOT-22 在诊断、4 周、8 周和 6 个月时对自我报告的嗅觉或味觉障碍进行了前瞻性评估。在诊断后 6 个月时，还使用 ​​34 项文化适应的宾夕法尼亚大学气味识别测试 (CA-UPSIT) 对嗅觉功能进行心理物理评估。145 人完成了为期 6 个月的主观和心理物理嗅觉评估。根据 CA-UPSIT 的数据，87 名受试者（60.0%）表现出一些嗅觉功能障碍，其中 10 名患者有嗅觉障碍（6.9%），7 名患者有严重的微嗅觉（4.8%）。在实施 CA-UPSIT 时，在自我报告的嗅觉或味觉变化与嗅觉测试分数之间观察到弱相关性（Spearman's r = -0.26）。末次随访时自述嗅觉正常的 112 例患者中，CA-UPSIT 显示嗅觉正常 46 例（41.1%），轻度嗅觉异常 46 例（41.1%），中度嗅觉异常 11 例（9.8%），重度嗅觉异常3 名 (2.3%) 患者和 6 名 (5.4%) 患者的嗅觉丧失；然而，在那些自我报告嗅觉正常但在测试中发现功能减退的患者中，66 人中有 62 人在较早的时间点自我报告嗅觉或味觉下降。尽管大多数患者报告主观上的嗅觉正常，但我们观察到在诊断综合征冠状病毒 2 (SARS-CoV-2) 感染后的 6 个月内，持续性嗅觉功能障碍的比例很高，其中 11 例。7% 的患者有嗅觉丧失或严重的微观。这些数据突出了以前感染过 SARS-COV-2 的患者的长期嗅觉改变率显着。