{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,24]],"date-time":"2026-02-24T15:34:43Z","timestamp":1771947283667,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":36,"publisher":"Public Library of Science (PLoS)","issue":"2","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2024,2,1]],"date-time":"2024-02-01T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1706745600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["www.plosone.org"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["PLoS ONE"],"abstract":"<jats:p>The purpose of this study was to explore the characteristics of and risk factors for otological symptoms after contracting COVID-19. We invited 468 participants who had been infected with COVID-19 to participate in a survey. 310 (66.2%) were women and 158 (33.8%) were men. The mean age is 38.73 (12.21) years. The questionnaire included their basic information, symptoms and symptom duration after SARS-CoV-2 infection, number of vaccine doses received, and details regarding otological symptoms. In total, 106\/468 (22.6%) participants experienced tinnitus, 66\/468 (14.1%) hearing loss, 103\/468 (22.0%) aural fullness, and 71\/468 (15.2%) dizziness. Women were more prone to experience tinnitus (<jats:italic>P<\/jats:italic> = 0.022) and dizziness (<jats:italic>P<\/jats:italic> = 0.001) than men. The group with hearing loss were older (<jats:italic>P<\/jats:italic> = 0.025), and their initial COVID-19 symptoms lasted longer (<jats:italic>P<\/jats:italic> = 0.028) than those of patients without. Patients with aural fullness were more likely to experience fatigue than patients without (<jats:italic>P<\/jats:italic> = 0.002). Patients experiencing dizziness were more likely to experience pharyngalgia (<jats:italic>P<\/jats:italic> = 0.040) and fatigue (<jats:italic>P<\/jats:italic> = 0.005) than those without. The number of vaccine doses was positively associated with the resolution of otological symptoms (<jats:italic>P<\/jats:italic> = 0.035). Multiple logistic regression analysis revealed that sex was an independent risk factor for tinnitus (odds ratio [OR], 1.802; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.099\u20132.953; <jats:italic>P<\/jats:italic> = 0.020), the duration of initial COVID-19 symptoms for hearing loss (OR, 1.055; 95% CI, 1.008\u20131.105; <jats:italic>P<\/jats:italic> = 0.023), and sex for dizziness (OR, 2.870; 95% CI, 1.489\u20135.535; <jats:italic>P<\/jats:italic> = 0.002). Sex, age, COVID-19-related fatigue, and the duration of initial COVID-19 symptoms may affect the occurrence of otological symptoms, and vaccines may aid their resolution.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0297100","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2024,2,1]],"date-time":"2024-02-01T18:45:28Z","timestamp":1706813128000},"page":"e0297100","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.corrections_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":7,"title":["Analysis of characteristics of and risk factors for otological symptoms after COVID-19 infection"],"prefix":"10.1371","volume":"19","author":[{"given":"Qiang","family":"Wang","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Hailing","family":"Gu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Jianjun","family":"Ren","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Yu","family":"Zhao","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-7316-6541","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Zhaoli","family":"Meng","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"340","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2024,2,1]]},"reference":[{"key":"pone.0297100.ref001","unstructured":"Weekly epidemiological update on COVID-19\u20138 June 2023. 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