Otorhinolaryngological Manifestations in COVID-19: Review of Recent Evidence
Ameen Z. Alherabi
*
Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Umm Al-Qura University, Makkah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery Department, International Medical Center, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia and Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery Department, King Faisal Specialist Hospital & Research Center, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Bassam T. Alharthi
Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Umm Al-Qura University, Makkah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Jeehad M. Felemban
Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Umm Al-Qura University, Makkah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Hareth H. Alharthi
Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Umm Al-Qura University, Makkah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Mohammed T. Alrefai
Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Umm Al-Qura University, Makkah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
Objectives: In this review we provide an updated concise review about the most common Otorhinolaryngological symptoms in COVID-19 patients.
Methods: A searched strategy designed on published literature in different large medical databases and journals using various keywords to get the recent described manifestations.
Results: 25 included studies that focused on ENT symptoms and involved the confirmed cases only. 6276 patients were accounted for the results which showed that the most prevalent ENT manifestation were cough in 3498 (56%) patients, headache in 2013 (32%) patients, sore throat in 1966 (31%) patients, anosmia in 1340 (21%) patients, loss of taste in 914 (15%) patients, and rhinorrhea in 196 (3%) patients.
Conclusion: Cough was the commonest symptoms which should raise the suspicion to do COVID-19 swab especially if associated with smell and taste disorder.
Keywords: ENT, Otorhinolaryngology, loss of taste, loss of smell, COVID - 19, coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2