Document Type : Original Article

Authors

Abstract

BACKGROUND: One of the most important sensory disorders that usually occur after viral infections,
especially human coronaviruses and rhinoviruses, is anosmia or loss of olfactory sense. The aim of
the present study was to investigate olfactory disorders in children with COVID‑19 disease admitted
to Hazrat Masoumeh Hospital in Qom.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: This descriptive‑analytical study was conducted on 85 children
admitted to Hazrat Masoumeh Hospital in Qom by using a convenience random sampling method.
Data were collected using a checklist containing demographic data. The collected data were entered
SPSS 18 software and were analyzed using descriptive and analytical statistics.
RESULTS: In the present study, the results showed that the mean age of participants was
6.59 ± 3.27 years and more patients were Iranian (n = 69, 87.3%), had a history of underlying
disease (n = 51, 64.6%), had a history of vaccination (n = 78, 98.7%), and did not have contact with a
suspected patient (n = 43, 54.4%). Among the signs and symptoms of the disease, only the symptoms
of fever (n = 71, 89.9%), weakness and lethargy (n = 44, 55.7%), and anorexia (n = 44, 55.7%) were
observed in most patients. Moreover, 87.3% (n = 69) of the patients did not have olfactory. Furthermore,
no association was found between age (P = 0.803), length of hospital stay (P = 0.397), white blood
cell (P = 0.624), lymph (P = 0.638), Polymorphonuclear (PMN) (P = 0.493), erythrocyte sedimentation
rate (P = 0.507), C‑reactive protein (P = 0.085), and O2sat (P = 0.205) and olfactory disorders, but a
significant relationship was found between patient weight (P = 0.002) and olfactory disorders.
CONCLUSION: According to the results of the study, it can be said that in order to increase the
strength of the immune system of children, especially overweight children, appropriate and planned
action should be taken to prevent problems in these children.

Keywords

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