IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v19y2022i9p5777-d811786.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Long-Lasting Olfactory Dysfunction in Hospital Workers Due to COVID-19: Prevalence, Clinical Characteristics, and Most Affected Odorants

Author

Listed:
  • María Luisa Delgado-Losada

    (Experimental Psychology, Cognitive Processes and Speech Therapy Department, Faculty of Psychology, Complutense University of Madrid, Campus de Somosaguas, 28223 Pozuelo de Alarcón, Spain)

  • Jaime Bouhaben

    (Experimental Psychology, Cognitive Processes and Speech Therapy Department, Faculty of Psychology, Complutense University of Madrid, Campus de Somosaguas, 28223 Pozuelo de Alarcón, Spain)

  • Claudia Ruiz-Huerta

    (Servicio de Medicina Preventiva, Hospital Universitario de la Cruz Roja, 28003 Madrid, Spain)

  • Marcelle V. Canto

    (Servicio de Medicina Preventiva, Hospital Universitario de la Cruz Roja, 28003 Madrid, Spain)

  • Alice Helena Delgado-Lima

    (Experimental Psychology, Cognitive Processes and Speech Therapy Department, Faculty of Psychology, Complutense University of Madrid, Campus de Somosaguas, 28223 Pozuelo de Alarcón, Spain)

Abstract

Hospital workers have increased exposure risk of healthcare-associated infections due to the frontline nature of their work. Olfactory dysfunction is highly prevalent. The objectives for this investigation are to study the prevalence of long-lasting olfactory dysfunction associated with COVID-19 infection in hospital workers during the first pandemic wave, to identify clinical characteristics and associated symptomatology, and to analyze how many patients with COVID-19 infection had developed olfactory dysfunction during infection and maintained a reduced olfactory function for approximately 10 weeks after diagnosis. Between June and July of 2020, a cross-sectional study was carried out at the Hospital Central de la Cruz Roja San José and Santa Adela in Madrid, Spain. One hundred sixty-four participants were included, of which 110 were patient-facing healthcare staff and 54 were non-patient-facing healthcare staff. Participants were split into three groups, according to COVID-19 diagnosis and presence of COVID-19 related olfactory symptomatology. Participants were asked to complete a structured online questionnaire along with Sniffin’ Stick Olfactory Test measurements. In this study, 88 participants were confirmed for COVID-19 infection, 59 of those participants also reported olfactory symptomatology. The prevalence of COVID-19 infection was 11.35%, and the prevalence for olfactory dysfunction was 67.05%. Olfactory dysfunction associated with COVID-19 infection leads to long-lasting olfactory loss. Objective assessment with Sniffin’ Stick Olfactory Test points to odor identification as the most affected process. Lemon, liquorice, solvent, and rose are the odors that are worst recognized. Mint, banana, solvent, garlic, coffee, and pineapple, although they are identified, are perceived with less intensity. The findings of this study confirmed a high prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 infection among the hospital workers.

Suggested Citation

  • María Luisa Delgado-Losada & Jaime Bouhaben & Claudia Ruiz-Huerta & Marcelle V. Canto & Alice Helena Delgado-Lima, 2022. "Long-Lasting Olfactory Dysfunction in Hospital Workers Due to COVID-19: Prevalence, Clinical Characteristics, and Most Affected Odorants," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(9), pages 1-18, May.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:9:p:5777-:d:811786
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/9/5777/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/9/5777/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jason B Castro & Arvind Ramanathan & Chakra S Chennubhotla, 2013. "Categorical Dimensions of Human Odor Descriptor Space Revealed by Non-Negative Matrix Factorization," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 8(9), pages 1-16, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Lyu, Minghui & Huang, Qi, 2024. "Visual elements in advertising enhance odor perception and purchase intention: The role of mental imagery in multi-sensory marketing," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    2. Jisub Bae & Ju-Yeon Yi & Cheil Moon, 2019. "Odor quality profile is partially influenced by verbal cues," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(12), pages 1-17, December.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:9:p:5777-:d:811786. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.