Covid-19: 5% of adults infected may develop long-term smell, taste problems — study

About 5 per cent of adults who have been infected with Covid-19 may develop long-lasting problems with their sense of smell or taste afterwards, according to new research.

More than 550 million cases of Covid-19 have been confirmed since the beginning of the pandemic, meaning at least 27 million patients may experience smell and taste deficiencies long term.

Change in the sense of smell and taste is common in patients with Covid-19, with more than 40 per cent of people on average reporting these symptoms globally.

An international research team studied 3,699 patients who met this criteria and found that smell loss may persist in 5.6 per cent of patients, while 4.4 per cent may not recover their sense of taste. The findings have been published in the British Medical Journal.

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At 30 days after initial infection, only 74 per cent of patients reported smell recovery and 79 per cent of patients reported taste recovery.

Recovery rates increased with each passing month, reaching a peak of 96 per cent for smell and 98 per cent for taste after six months.

Women were less likely to recover their sense of smell and taste than men, while patients with greater initial severity of smell loss and those with nasal congestion were less likely to recover their sense of smell.

While most patients are expected to recover their sense of smell or taste within the first three months, “a major group of patients might develop long-lasting dysfunction that requires timely identification, personalised treatment and long term follow-up,” the researchers said.

Health leaders, policymakers, and research funders “should realise the extraordinary importance of good chemosensory function for the wellbeing of humans, allocate adequate resources to support chemosensory research, and sustain medical specialists faced with an exceptional number of patients with smell and taste dysfunction”.