A Retrospective Study on Smell Dysfunction in COVID-19 Patients Presenting to a Tertiary Care Teaching Hospital in Northern India

Abstract

Introduction: The smell dysfunction in COVID-19 patients has remained an unexplained topic. The blood parameters’ variability in COVID-19 patients with anosmia has been studied in few literatures. The study is aimed to find the association of anosmia with the blood grouping and C-reactive protein (CRP) levels in coronavirus-infected patients. Materials and Methods: Database from Medical Records Department of a Tertiary Care Teaching Hospital in Northern India was searched from July 2020 to December 2020. Every fifth file was selected using the stratified random sampling. Laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 cases by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction files were included. Blood grouping and CRP levels were assessed and statistically correlated. Results: A total of 103 patients of coronavirus-associated infection with anosmia were included among which 52 (50.48%) patients were from moderate category of AIIMS-ICMR joint task Force’s clinical guidelines. A total of 44 (42.71%) patients had moderate levels of elevated CRP. The blood Group B-type was found most commonly in 35 (33.98%) patients. The correlation of severity of COVID-19 infection with CRP was found to be statistically significant (Chi-square test statistic was 31.203 and P = 0.00023) in patients presenting with smell dysfunction. Conclusion: Anosmia was found to a suggestive symptom for the early identification of coronavirus-infected cases. In this study, CRP levels showed statistically significant association with anosmia in COVID-19 patients. Predilection for specific blood groups serves as platform for further research.