Investigating Anosmia and Ageusia in COVID-19 Adult Patients in Saudi Arabia

Summary

COVID-19 has adversely affected the healthcare system across the world. The world was not prepared for global outbreak of infectious diseases. The rapid spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is enabling researchers worldwide to acquire a large amount of clinical data regarding coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

The COVID-19 infection severely affects the respiratory system in the critical cases and results in mortalities. The affected people experience a dry cough, fever, breathing problems, diarrhea, muscle pain, and sore throat. Besides that, some of the evidence from Italy, South Korea, China, and Spain suggest that the COVID-19 cases also lose their senses of smell and taste resulting in alterations in those patients.

The objective of this proposed study is to determine whether COVID-19 cases have Olfactory and gustatory dysfunctions as a hallmark indicator and can be used as diagnostic tools for the isolation of suspected people.

Investigators are presenting a prospective proportional case-control study that is conducted to investigate the COVID-19 cases with anosmia and /or Ageusia in a university hospital in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The sample size of this case series would be 250 cases of suspected COVID-19 patients. The cases included in the study are analyzed prospectively to determine if the cases had a history of anosmia and /or Ageusia, and then tested for the alteration of these senses through a panel of standardized odors/taste strips. That is looked at statistically allowing us to confirm the proposed effectiveness of these tests as a diagnostic tool.

Conditions

• Anosmia
• Ageusia
• Covid19
• Corona Virus Infection

Interventions

OTHER

NHANES smell and taste tests

participants will be asked to smell 8 cards of different odors and submit your choices in a given card, and so for 3 different taste tips (salty, bitter and neutral). participants will be asked to submit his choices in a given card as well. Then participants photograph those cards and send it via WhatsApp to a given number to be collected

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Princess Nourah Bint Abdulrahman University

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• OSAMA KENTAB, M.D · Princess Nourah Bint Abdulrahman University

• AHMAD AALIBRAHIM, M.D · Princess Nourah Bint Abdulrahman University

• MARZOOQA ALENIZI, M.D · Princess Nourah Bint Abdulrahman University

Eligibility

Min Age

12 Years

Max Age

65 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2020-06-15

Primary Completion

2021-12-31

Completion

2021-12-31

Countries

• Saudi Arabia

Study Locations