A significant proportion of people infected with SARS-CoV-2 report a new onset of smell or taste loss. The duration of the chemosensory impairment and predictive factors of recovery are still unclear. We aimed to investigate the prevalence, temporal course and recovery predictors in patients who suffered from varying disease severity. Consecutive adult patients diagnosed to be infected with SARS-CoV-2 via reverse-transcription–polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) at two coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) Reference Hospitals were contacted to complete a survey reporting chemosensory loss, severity, timing and duration, nasal symptoms, smoking, allergic rhinitis, chronic rhinosinusitis, comorbidities and COVID-19 severity. In a cross-sectional study, we contacted 182 patients and 150 responded. Excluding the critically ill patients, 38% reported gustatory and 41% olfactory impairment (74% severe/anosmia). Most of the patients (88%) recovered their sense of smell by two months (median: 11.5 days; IQR: 13.3). For 23%, the olfactory loss lasted longer than a month. There were no significant differences in the prevalence and duration of chemosensory loss between groups of varying COVID-19 severity, and sexes (all p > 0.05). Moderate hyposmia resolved quicker than more severe loss (p = 0.04). Smell and taste loss are highly prevalent in COVID-19. Most patients recover fast, but nearly one out of ten have not recovered in two months.

We evaluated olfactory dysfunction in 154 adults (74 men, mean age 60.9±11.9 years), of whom 119 had type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Olfactory function was assessed with "Sniffin' Sticks." A total Threshold-Discrimination-Identification (TDI) score was calculated. Type 2 diabetes mellitus, hypertension, and hyperlipidemia were associated with lower olfactory scores (all TDI scores<0.001). Age was negatively associated with odor threshold, odor identification, and TDI score (P=.009, <.001, and <.001, respectively). After adjusting for age, gender, body mass index, smoking, alcohol, diabetes, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, and cardiovascular disease, only T2DM and hypertension were associated with TDI score (R square=0.281). Diabetic complications were associated with olfactory dysfunction (P=.006): TDI scores were lower in the presence of diabetic peripheral neuropathy (P=.017) and retinopathy (P=.047). In conclusion, T2DM and hypertension are independently associated with olfactory dysfunction while diabetic peripheral neuropathy and retinopathy are significantly associated with lower olfactory scores. The clinical relevance of these findings needs to be further examined.

The Greek version of the CSHQ CF, but particularly the PF has proved to be a very reliable clinical instrument, which can be used in clinical trials for assessing sleep quality in school-aged children with sleep disturbances because of obstructive airway disorders, such as AR.

Current studies suggest that changes of chorioamnionitis are associated with the appearance of bronchial-associated lymphoid tissue (BALT), during fetal development. The aim of this study was to examine and analyse apart from the appearance of BALT, the expression of structural proteins in the lung parenchyma during gestation. Materials and Methods: A series of 149 paraffin-embedded human fetal lung specimens at the second trimester of development were examined by immunohistochemistry using the monoclonal antibodies CD20, CD3, Tenascin-C, Vimentin, and Fibronectin. Results: The results of this study showed that 1) BALT does not develop in fetal period and 2) BALT which develops during fetal period is probably in response to antigenic stimulation where in the present cases occurs to be changes of chorioamnionitis which decreased the expression of filaments proteins in the intermediate cells of lung parenchyma in comparison with the normal ones. Conclusion: The expressions' pattern of intermediate filaments proteins in the lung parenchyma can be modified by the presence of chorioamnionitis in the fetal membranes.