Long-lasting smell or taste dysfunction may affect about 27 million people globally who have had SARS-CoV-2 infection, a meta-analysis with parametric cure modeling showed. An estimated 5.6% and 4.4% of COVID-19 patients may develop persistent self-reported smell and taste dysfunction, respectively, representing 15 million and 12 million cases worldwide as of July 2022, reported Song Tar Toh, MBBS, of the National University of Singapore, and colleagues. Women were less likely to recover their sense of smell or taste, they wrote in The BMJ. COVID patients with greater initial severity of dysfunction and patients with nasal congestion were less likely to recover their sense of smell.
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