Features of anosmia in COVID-19

Background. - Medical publications about anosmia with COVID-19 are scarce. We aimed to describe the prevalence and features of anosmia in COVID-19 patients. Methods. - We retrospectively included COVID-19 patients with anosmia between March 1st and March 17th, 2020. We used SARS-CoV-2 real time PCR in respiratory samples to confirm the cases. Results. - Fifty-four of 114 patients (47%) with confirmed COVID-19 reported anosmia. Mean age of the 54 patients was 47 (+/- 16) years; 67% were females and 37% were hospitalised. The median Charlson comorbidity index was 0.70 (+/- 1.6 [0-7]). Forty-six patients (85%) had dysgeusia and 28% presented with pneumonia. Anosmia began 4.4 (+/- 1.9 [1-8]) days after infection onset. The mean duration of anosmia was 8.9 (+/- 6.3 [1-21]) days and 98% of patients recovered within 28 days. Conclusions. - Anosmia was present in half of our European COVID-19 patients and was often associated with dysgeusia. (C) 2020 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.