About one in 20 people who test positive for COVID-19 worldwide have long-term problems with smell or taste for at least 6 months, a new study has found.
The survey was produced by a team of international experts, including some from the UK, and analyzed data from 18 studies involving 3,699 patients.
Published in the BMJ, it used modeling to estimate how many people experience disturbances in taste or smell for at least six months after a COVID-19 infection. It found that an estimated 5.6% of patients experience smell dysfunction for at least six months, while 4.4% have a change in taste.
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15 million people may suffer from loss of smell
In that month, there had been about 550 million COVID infections worldwide, meaning 15 million could have had smell problems and 12 million had taste problems, the study estimated.
He added that women are less likely to regain their sense of smell and taste and that patients who suffered more in the initial infection were more likely to have long-term problems.
In a linked editorial, a team of Italian academics wrote: “Health systems should therefore be prepared to offer support to these patients who often report feeling isolated when their symptoms are overlooked by doctors”.
They added that people “only realize the importance of smell when it is lost” and that it can be “very distressing” when they lose these senses.
“The loss of smell and taste negatively affects the quality of life by depriving those affected of various everyday pleasures and social ties,” wrote the team, led by Paolo Boscolo-Rizzo of the University of Trieste.
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“People may also experience anorexia, food aversions, malnutrition, anxiety and depression,” they added.
They highlighted that parosmia – the experience of a distorted sense of smell – means that for many this “transforms a pleasant smell into an unpleasant one”.
This means that “everyday activities like smelling coffee and tasting food can become disgusting and emotionally distressing.”