Madrid, Spain.
The loss of smell is not just one of the factors of this diagnosis early in the COVID-19, it is also one good prognosis symptom of the disease, according to an international study led by scientists from Complutense University and Hospital Clínico San Carlos de Madrid.
Through a study conducted at numerous centers, with the largest sample used to date (5,868 admitted patients), the researchers confirmed that although its origin is still a mystery, anosmia loss of smell– can act as a good prognostic factor for the disease.
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“These results have many implications, from the initial evaluation of patients to the ability to understand pathophysiology. The invasion of the nasal epithelium may cause an adequate immunity to be activated, causing the cytokine storms”, Said Jesús Porta-Etessam, head of the Neurology Department at Hospital Clínico San Carlos, professor at the Faculty of Medicine of the Complutense University of Madrid (UCM) and lead author of the work.
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In addition to identifying anosmia as a good prognostic factor, the researchers also found that olfactory and taste disturbances are more common in women (12.41% versus 8.67%), in women under 65, and in patients with kidney, lung and kidney disease. heart, neurological or oncological.
Classify patients
The results obtained on one of the symptoms earliest coronavirus can serve as a criterion in classifying or taking patients therapeutic decisions, as noted by the Complutense University of Madrid in a note released this Monday.
The conclusions of this study can be used to elaborate “risk indices” complication, which according to Porta-Etessam would be very useful and interesting in observing, treating or assessing the discharge of patients.
In addition to UCM and San Carlos Clinical Hospital, the Madrid hospitals of La Paz, Infanta Sofía, Nuestra Señora de América, Puerta de Hierro or Getafe also participated in the study; the University Hospitals Clínico de Valladolid (northwest of Spain), Virgen de La Arraixaca (Murcia) -south-east- Álvaro Cunqueiro (Vigo) -nowest- and Burgos (north); the Institute of Cardiology and Cardiovascular Surgery of Havana (Cuba); the General Hospital of the North of Guayaquil IESS Los Ceibos (Ecuador) or the San Carlo Clinic of Milan (Italy). EFE