{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,15]],"date-time":"2026-10-15T11:02:22Z","timestamp":1792062142106,"version":"4.4.0"},"reference-count":11,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2020,11,24]],"date-time":"2020-11-24T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1606176000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Med."],"abstract":"<jats:p><jats:bold>Introduction:<\/jats:bold>To evaluate the recovery rate of loss of smell (LOS) with objective olfactory testing in COVID-19 patients.<\/jats:p><jats:p><jats:bold>Methods:<\/jats:bold>Adults with confirmed COVID-19 and self-reported sudden LOS were prospectively recruited through a public call from the University of Mons (Belgium). Epidemiological and clinical data were collected using online patient-reported outcome questionnaires. Patients benefited from objective olfactory evaluation (Sniffin-Sticks-test) and were invited to attend for repeated evaluation until scores returned to normal levels.<\/jats:p><jats:p><jats:bold>Results:<\/jats:bold>From March 22 to May 22, 2020, 88 patients with sudden-onset LOS completed the evaluations. LOS developed after general symptoms in 44.6% of cases. Regarding objective evaluation, 22 patients (25.0%) recovered olfaction within 14 days following the onset of LOS. The smell function recovered between the 16th and the 70th day post-LOS in 48 patients (54.5%). At the time of final assessment at 2 months, 20.5% of patients (<jats:italic>N<\/jats:italic>= 18) had not achieved normal levels of olfactory function. Higher baseline severity of olfactory loss measured using Sniffin-Sticks was strongly predictive of persistent loss (<jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>&amp;lt; 0.001).<\/jats:p><jats:p><jats:bold>Conclusion:<\/jats:bold>In the first 2 months, 79.5% of patients may expect to have complete recovery of their olfactory function. The severity of olfactory loss, as detected at the first Sniffin-Sticks-test, may predict the lack of mid-term recovery.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3389\/fmed.2020.582802","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2020,11,24]],"date-time":"2020-11-24T06:24:51Z","timestamp":1606199091000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":49,"title":["Severity of Anosmia as an Early Symptom of COVID-19 Infection May Predict Lasting Loss of Smell"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"7","author":[{"given":"Jerome R.","family":"Lechien","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Fabrice","family":"Journe","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Stephane","family":"Hans","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Carlos 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Riu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Claire","family":"Hopkins","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Sven","family":"Saussez","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2020,11,24]]},"reference":[{"key":"B1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"767","DOI":"10.1016\/j.cmi.2020.04.012","article-title":"Risk factors for disease severity, unimprovement, and mortality in COVID-19 patients in Wuhan, China","volume":"26","author":"Zhang","year":"2020","journal-title":"Clin Microbiol Infect"},{"key":"B2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"26","DOI":"10.1186\/s40463-020-00423-8","article-title":"Early recovery following new onset anosmia during the COVID-19 pandemic\u2014an observational cohort 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