Smell loss was mostly found among those with original COVID or early variant infections

 

Sense of smell—but not taste—was still impaired in some COVID patients at 1 year, according to a new study in JAMA Network Open. 

 

The US-based cross-sectional study compared 340 people with and 434 without prior COVID-19, recruited from February 2020 to August 2023 from the social media website Reddit.

...

Almost a third with prior COVID had loss of smell

Participants with a history of COVID-19 were more likely to experience some degree of smell loss compared with those without a history (30.3% vs 21.0%; odds ratio [OR], 1.64; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.18 to 2.27). Moderate to severe loss of smell was likewise higher in those with previous COVID-19 (8.5% vs 2.8%; OR, 3.28; 95% CI, 1.65 to 6.53).

 

(more)

 

https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/covid-19/impaired-sense-smell-still-common-1-year-after-covid-19

 

 

Findings  In this cross-sectional study of 340 individuals with and 434 individuals without prior COVID-19, taste function did not differ between individuals who had contracted COVID-19 one year earlier and those who had not, whereas some olfactory dysfunction was present in 30.3% of individuals with prior COVID-19 but only 21.0% of individuals with no history of infection. Deficits were greatest for individuals with the original untyped and Alpha variant infections.

 

Meaning  These findings suggest that long-term taste loss perceived by many patients with COVID-19 likely reflects the loss of flavor sensations from odorant molecules reaching a damaged olfactory epithelium via the nasopharynx rather than the taste buds.

...

In post hoc analyses, the mean UPSIT score among individuals with Omicron variant infection (35.19 [95% CI, 34.54-35.84]) was significantly higher than those of individuals with the original (33.11 [95% CI, 31.81-34.41]) and Alpha (32.30 [95% CI, 30.83-33.77]) variant infections (P values = .001). Test scores of participants with the original and Alpha variant infections were the only ones to differ significantly from test scores of participants with no history of COVID-19.

 

(more)

 

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2817869

 

I think the only thing impaired are peoples brains 

I can smell nothing since my late covid (April last year). And my taste buds are now recovered to about 40% of what they were.

A series of off-topic posts have been removed.

 

The topic of the thread here is loss of smell after COVID infections.

14 hours ago, mfd101 said:

I can smell nothing since my late covid (April last year). And my taste buds are now recovered to about 40% of what they were.

I never had Covid just a bad flu and still no normal smell or taste

14 hours ago, mfd101 said:

I can smell nothing since my late covid (April last year). And my taste buds are now recovered to about 40% of what they were.

 

Except, according to the results of the OP study here, the actual problem with this post COVID was rooted in the loss of smell, and that loss diminishing the sense of taste. According to this study, their tests showed no diminishment of actual taste capacity in the tested folks.

 

E.g., they're saying, nothing physically wrong with people's taste buds per se post COVID.

 

From the OP article:

 

"Reports that taste loss continues long after the initial infection probably are due in large part to the confusion between taste- and olfaction-dependent food flavor," the authors explained. "Smell loss remained in nearly one-third of individuals with exposure, likely explaining taste complaints of many individuals with [long COVID]."

 

AND

 

"The total WETT [empirical taste test] scores did not differ significantly between participants with and without a COVID-19 history, with both groups falling within normal ranges."