New Onset of Smell and Taste Loss Are Common Findings Also in Patients With Symptomatic COVID-19 After Complete Vaccination

Luigi A. Vaira*, Andrea De Vito, Jerome R. Lechien, Carlos M. Chiesa-Estomba, Miguel Mayo-Yàñez, Christian Calvo-Henrìquez, Sven Saussez, Giordano Madeddu, Sergio Babudieri, Paolo Boscolo-Rizzo, Claire Hopkins, Giacomo De Riu

*Corresponding author for this work

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    41 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    The aim of this study is to investigate the clinical profile of patients who developed coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) after full vaccination. Demographic, epidemiological and clinical data were collected through medical records and online patient-reported outcome questionnaire from patients who developed symptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection, confirmed by nasopharyngeal swab, at least 2 weeks after completion of vaccination. A total of 153 subjects were included. The most frequent symptoms were: asthenia (82.4%), chemosensory dysfunction (63.4%), headache (59.5%), runny nose (58.2%), muscle pain (54.9%), loss of appetite (54.3%), and nasal obstruction (51.6%). Particularly, 62.3% and 53.6% of subjects reported olfactory and gustatory dysfunction, respectively. Symptom severity was mild or moderate in almost all cases. Chemosensory dysfunctions have been observed to be a frequent symptom even in subjects who contracted the infection after full vaccination. For this reason, the sudden loss of smell and taste could continue to represent a useful and specific diagnostic marker to raise the suspicion of COVID-19 even in vaccinated subjects. In the future, it will be necessary to establish what the recovery rate is in these patients. Level of Evidence: 4 Laryngoscope, 2021.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)419-421
    Number of pages3
    JournalLaryngoscope
    Volume132
    Issue number2
    Early online date26 Nov 2021
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - Feb 2022

    Keywords

    • ageusia
    • anosmia
    • COVID-19
    • gustatory dysfunction
    • olfactory dysfunction
    • vaccination

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