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Chemosensory dysfunction, tobacco smoking and the need of hospitalization: how do they relate? - Data from COVID_19 patients in Northwestern Greece
1 Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Faculty of Medicine, School of Health Sciences, University of Ioannina, Ioannina, Greece.
2 Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, School of Health Sciences, University of Ioannina, Ioannina, Greece.
3 Unit of Medical Technology and Intelligent Information Systems, Departement of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Ioannina, Ioannina, Greece.
Research Article
International Journal of Science and Research Archive, 2022, 07(01), 308–314.
Article DOI: 10.30574/ijsra.2022.7.1.0128
Publication history:
Received on 25 April 2022; revised on 31 May 2022; accepted on 02 June 2022
Abstract:
Background: The aim of this study was to investigate the relation between tobacco smoking and chemosensory dysfunction in COVID-19 patients in Northwestern Greece. We also aimed to investigate if there is any association between smoking and the need of hospitalization, in the studied population of patients.
Methods: We used a questionnaire to select information about patient demographics, medical history, habits such as tobacco smoking and alcohol consumption and reported symptoms, during infection. In this study were included three hundred COVID-19 positive patients that were all undergone the RT-PCR test in the University Hospital of Ioannina, Grecce. A number of 150 patients recovered at home and 150 patients needed hospitalization. Statistical analysis based on ΙBM-SPSS Statistics 26.0.
Results: Data analysis in the total sample showed that there was no statistically difference between the subgroup of patients with loss of smell and tobacco smoking in the total sample, in the group of patients that recovered at home and in patients that needed hospitalization. No statistical association was found between the patients that used tobacco with loss of taste in the total sample, in the group of patients that recovered at home and in patients that needed hospitalization. The highest percentage of patients that were tobacco smokers was found in the subgroup of patients that recovered at home and was about 20% (n = 30). The lowest percentage was 8% (n = 12) in the subgroup of patients that needed hospitalization. There was a statistically difference between the subgroup of patients with the use of tobacco and decreased need for hospitalization.
Conclusion: There is no relation between chemosensory dysfunction during SARS_COV2 infection and tobacco smoking. There is a statistically significant difference between active smokers with covid_19 infection and decreased risk for hospitalization in this small number of patients.
Keywords:
COVID-19; Olfactory dysfunction; Gustatory dysfunction; smoking; Northwestern Greece
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Copyright © 2022 Author(s) retain the copyright of this article. This article is published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Liscense 4.0
