Abstract
OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to determine the association of some demographic and clinical factors with recovery from olfactory and gustatory dysfunction in coronavirus disease 2019 patients in Iran. METHODS: This prospective cohort study was performed on 242 coronavirus disease 2019 patients with olfactory and gustatory dysfunction. The time from onset to recovery for olfactory and gustatory dysfunction was estimated by the Kaplan-Meier estimator. RESULTS: After six months, 239 patients (98.8 per cent) had completely recovered from olfactory dysfunction. Olfactory and gustatory dysfunction symptoms resolved in 80.99 per cent and 83.56 per cent of the patients, respectively, within the first 30 days of symptom onset. Mean recovery time for olfactory dysfunction (35.07 ± 4.25 days) was significantly longer in those infected during the first epidemic wave compared with those infected during the second wave (21.65 ± 2.05 days) (p = 0.004). A similar pattern in recovery time was observed for cases of gustatory dysfunction (p = 0.005). CONCLUSION: The recovery rate for coronavirus disease 2019 related olfactory and gustatory dysfunction is high within the first month of symptom onset.