• Amjed Tarifi, Amjad A Al Shdaifat, Abdel-Ellah M Al-Shudifat, Mohammed Azab, Ja'far Ismail, Rand Bashir, Aous Amro, Ahmad Altarifi, and Yousef Khader.
• Department of General and Special Surgery, Faculty of Medicine, Hashemite University, Zarqa, Jordan.
• Int. J. Clin. Pract. 2021 Jul 1; 75 (7): e14260.

IntroductionCoronavirus 2019 disease (COVID-19) has variable clinical, sinonasal, and smell/taste outcomes.MethodsObservational study was conducted at a tertiary hospital in Amman, Jordan. Demographic data, clinical presentation and smoking status were collected. Sinonasal symptoms, using Sino-Nasal Outcome Test (SNOT-22) Questionnaire, were evaluated. Smell/taste dysfunction was followed for three months.ResultsNinety-Seven patients had satisfactory responses. Eighty-six patients were symptomatic (41 at presentation, and 45 during admission). Among those patients, 59.3% had cough, 52.3% sore throat and 48.8% fever. The most common initial symptom was sore throat. Shortness of breath and smell/taste dysfunction were significantly higher in females. Surprisingly, shortness of breath was more common in non-smokers. Smell/taste dysfunction affected 25.6% of patients, but was the first symptom in only one patient. Fourteen of 22 symptoms in SNOT-22 had significant increase. The overall average of symptoms scores increased from 0.472 to 1.034, with smell/taste dysfunction to have the most increment. The latter symptom recovered completely in 81% and dysgeusia developed in 9.5% at three months, and it recovered completely in all patients at six months.ConclusionAlthough COVID-19 may produce severe lower airways disease, it has modest effect on nose and paranasal sinuses. Moreover, smell/taste dysfunction is a prominent symptom, but it usually recovers dramatically.© 2021 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

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