Coincidence of COVID-19 epidemic and olfactory dysfunction outbreak

Background Recent surge of olfactory dysfunction in patients who were referred to ENT clinics and concurrent COVID-19epidemic in Iran motivated us to evaluate anosmic/hyposmic patients to find any relation between these two events. Methods This is a cross-sectional study with an online checklist on voluntary cases in all provinces of Iran between the 12th and 17th March, 2020. Cases was defined as self-reported anosmia/hyposmia in responders fewer than 4 weeks later (from start the of COVID-19 epidemic in Iran). Variables consist of clinical presentations, related past medical history, family history of recent respiratory tract infection and hospitalization. Results In this study 10069 participants aged 32.5 +/- 8.6 (7-78) years, 71.13% female and 81.68% non-smoker completed online checklist. They reported 10.55% a history of a trip out of home town and 1.1% hospitalization due to respiratory problems recently. From family members 12.17% had a history of severe respiratory disease in recent days and 48.23% had anosmia/hyposmia. Correlation between the number of olfactory disorder and reported COVID-19 patients in all 31 provinces till 16th March 2020 was highly significant (Spearman correlation coefficient=0.87, p-Value<0.001). The onset of anosmia was sudden in 76.24% and till the time of filling the questionnaire in 60.90% of patients decreased sense of smell was constant. Also 83.38 of this patients had decreased taste sensation in association with anosmia. Conclusions It seems that we have a surge in outbreak of olfactory dysfunction happened in Iran during the COVID-19 epidemic. The exact mechanism of anosmia/hyposmia in COVID-19 patients needs further investigations.