BACKGROUND: The clinical presentation of European patients with mild-to-moderate COVID-19 infection is still unknown. OBJECTIVE: To study the clinical presentation of COVID-19 in Europe. METHODS: Patients with positive diagnosis of COVID-19 were recruited from 18 European hospitals. Epidemiological and clinical data were obtained through a standardized questionnaire. Bayesian analysis was used for analysing the relationship between outcomes. RESULTS: A total of 1,420 patients completed the study (962 females, 30.7% of healthcare workers). The mean age of patients was 39.17 ± 12.09 years. The most common symptoms were headache (70.3%), loss of smell (70.2%), nasal obstruction (67.8%), cough (63.2%), asthenia (63.3%), myalgia (62.5%), rhinorrhea (60.1%), gustatory dysfunction (54.2%) and sore throat (52.9%). Fever was reported by 45.4%. The mean duration of COVID-19 symptoms of mild-to-moderate cured patients was 11.5 ± 5.7 days. The prevalence of symptoms significantly varied according to age and sex. Young patients more frequently had ear, nose and throat complaints, whereas elderly individuals often presented fever, fatigue and loss of appetite. Loss of smell, headache, nasal obstruction and fatigue were more prevalent in female patients. The loss of smell was a key symptom of mild-to-moderate COVID-19 patients and was not associated with nasal obstruction and rhinorrhea. Loss of smell persisted at least 7 days after the disease in 37.5% of cured patients. CONCLUSION: The clinical presentation of mild-to-moderate COVID-19 substantially varies according to the age and the sex characteristics of patients. Olfactory dysfunction seems to be an important underestimated symptom of mild-to-moderate COVID-19 that needs to be recognized as such by the WHO.

• MeSH
• Bayesova věta MeSH
• Betacoronavirus * MeSH
• bolesti hlavy epidemiologie   MeSH
• dospělí MeSH
• koronavirové infekce komplikace   diagnóza   enzymologie   MeSH
• lidé středního věku MeSH
• lidé MeSH
• myalgie epidemiologie   MeSH
• pandemie MeSH
• poruchy chuti epidemiologie   MeSH
• poruchy čichu epidemiologie   MeSH
• prevalence MeSH
• sexuální faktory MeSH
• určení symptomu MeSH
• věkové faktory MeSH
• virová pneumonie komplikace   diagnóza   enzymologie   MeSH
• Check Tag
• dospělí MeSH
• lidé středního věku MeSH
• lidé MeSH
• mužské pohlaví MeSH
• ženské pohlaví MeSH
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH
• Geografické názvy
• Evropa MeSH

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) status of patients with initial sudden olfactory anosmia (ISOA) through nasopharyngeal swabs for reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) analysis and to explore their olfactory dysfunctions with psychophysical olfactory evaluation. METHODS: A total of 78 ISOA patients were recruited from April 6, 2020, to April 10, 2020, through a public call of University of Mons (Mons, Belgium). Patients benefited from nasopharyngeal swabs and fulfilled the patient-reported outcome questionnaire. Among them, 46 patients performed psychophysical olfactory evaluation using olfactory identification testing. Based on the duration of the ISOA, 2 groups of patients were compared: patients with olfactory dysfunction duration ≤12 days (group 1) and those with duration >12 days (group 2). RESULTS: In group 1, 42 patients (87.5%) had a positive viral load determined by RT-PCR and 6 patients (12.5%) were negative. In group 2, 7 patients (23%) had a positive viral load and 23 patients (77%) were negative. The psychophysical olfactory evaluation reported that anosmia and hyposmia occurred in 24 (52%) and 11 (24%) patients, respectively. Eleven patients were normosmic. The viral load was significantly higher in patients of group 1 compared with those of group 2. CONCLUSIONS: Coronavirus disease 2019 was detected in a high proportion of ISOA patients, especially over the first 12 days of olfactory dysfunction. Anosmia is an important symptom to consider in the detection of COVID-19 infection.

• MeSH
• Betacoronavirus MeSH
• COVID-19 MeSH
• diagnostické techniky dýchacího ústrojí MeSH
• dospělí MeSH
• dysgeuzie MeSH
• fyzikální stimulace MeSH
• hodnocení výsledků péče pacientem MeSH
• klinické laboratorní techniky MeSH
• koronavirové infekce komplikace   diagnóza   MeSH
• lidé středního věku MeSH
• lidé MeSH
• mladý dospělý MeSH
• nosní obstrukce MeSH
• odoranty MeSH
• pandemie MeSH
• polymerázová řetězová reakce s reverzní transkripcí MeSH
• poruchy čichu komplikace   diagnóza   MeSH
• prospektivní studie MeSH
• SARS-CoV-2 MeSH
• senioři MeSH
• studie případů a kontrol MeSH
• testování na COVID-19 MeSH
• virová pneumonie komplikace   diagnóza   MeSH
• Check Tag
• dospělí MeSH
• lidé středního věku MeSH
• lidé MeSH
• mladý dospělý MeSH
• mužské pohlaví MeSH
• senioři MeSH
• ženské pohlaví MeSH
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH
• Geografické názvy
• Belgie MeSH