Nov. 19 2021 A study published in a journal of the American Medical Association on the 18th local time shows that as many as 160 million people in the United States may lose their sense of smell for a long time due to the novel coronavirus.
According to media reports such as Newsweek on the 18th, the study was written by 3 researchers from the University of Washington School of Medicine, two of whom were also editors of the Journal of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery of the American Medical Association. It is pointed out in the study that 30% to 75% of people living with the novel coronavirus are affected by loss of smell, and many people with chronic olfactory dysfunction due to the novel coronavirus may never even fully restore their sense of smell.
The study finally concluded that more than 70 to 160 million people in the United States experienced loss of smell for more than 6 months due to the novel coronavirus. The researchers also pointed out that the real number of patients with chronic olfactory dysfunction may be much higher than the results of the study, because the number of coronavirus cases reported by the U.S. government may also be lower than the real number.
The study also mentioned that chronic olfactory dysfunction has become one of the symptoms of COVID-19, and the loss of smell is related to reduced quality of life, reduced food intake, inability to detect harmful gases and smoke, increased personal hygiene concerns, and the emergence of depression symptoms.
