olfactory dysfunction in covid-19 patients in a tertiary care hospital; a cross-sectional observational study

Introduction: sudden onset of olfactory dysfunction (od) manifesting as hyposmia and/or anosmia occurred in many covid-19 patients, with a frequency as high as 85.6%. given the morbidity and mortality of covid-19, it is important to recognize the symptoms early so that the infected person can be diagnosed, isolated and treated early. hence, this study was undertaken to know the prevalence of sino-nasal symptoms with special reference to olfactory dysfunction in covid-19 patients.materials and methods: it is a cross sectional observational study involving 160 covid-19 patients aged 18 to 100 years selected by universal sampling. od was analyzed and compared with various inflammatory markers and sino-nasal symptoms. patients were followed up until their discharge from the hospital or until death due to covid-19 related health issues.results: out of 160 subjects included in the study, 61.88 % of the study participants were males and 38.13% were females. the mean age was 44.50 ± 16.43 years. a total of 51 patients (31.87%) developed od. fifty one (31.87%) patients developed od (anosmia/hyposmia). among the individuals with anosmia/hyposmia, majority of patients (n=26) (50.98%) complained of more than 75% loss of smell sensation.  mean duration of anosmia/hyposmia was 9.92 ± 3.71 days. od correlated with serum ferritin levels (p=0.0453).conclusion:anosmia/hyposmia was found in significant proportion of patients with covid-19 which correlated with the disease severity and serum ferritin levels and hence can serve as surrogate marker of disease severity.