Factors Associated with Olfactory and Gustatory Dysfunction in Post-COVID-19 Patients Treated at a Peruvian Hospital

Fernández, Mirian; Valdivia, Erick G.; Reyes Chinarro, Carmen

doi:10.15517/zzvhrj49

Authors

Mirian Fernández Facultad de Ciencias de la Salud, Universidad científica del sur, Lima, Perú. Author https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1447-048X
Erick G. Valdivia Facultad de Ciencias de la Salud, Universidad científica del sur, Lima, Perú. Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología e Innovación Tecnológica, Lima, Perú. Author https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1117-6004
Carmen Reyes Chinarro Army Health Human Resources Department, Dirección de Salud del Ejército, Lima, Perú. Author https://orcid.org/0009-0005-4958-7687

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.15517/zzvhrj49

Keywords:

Olfactory disorders; Taste disorders; Sociodemographic factors; Epidemiological factors; Clinical factors; COVID-19.

Abstract

To determine the association between sociodemographic, epidemiological, and clinical factors and olfactory-gustatory dysfunction (OGD) in post-COVID-19 patients treated at a Peruvian hospital. An observational, analytical, and cross-sectional study was conducted using the clinical records of adult patients treated for COVID-19 at the Hospital Militar Central (HMC) between July 2020 and December 2022. Data were collected in person using a structured form that recorded sociodemographic, epidemiological, and clinical variables, as well as the presence of OGD. Poisson regression with robust variance was performed using SPSS v25. A total of 237 post-COVID-19 patients were included. Of these, 53.2% presented OGD. Among those with dysfunction, 81% reported both olfactory and gustatory impairment, 12.7% reported olfactory impairment only, and 6.3% reported gustatory impairment only. Multivariate analysis revealed that age under 60 years (p=0.007; RPa=1.194), female sex (p=0.005; RPa=1.160) and having “other” comorbidities (p=0.027; RPa=1.214) were significantly associated and increased the prevalence of OGD. Patients with age age under 60 years, female sex and with other comorbidities were significantly associated with olfactory-gustatory dysfunction.

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