Table 1.
Characteristics of the total sample and the clusters based on chemosensory recovery.
| Variable | Full sample (N = 974) | Partial chemosensory recovery (N = 471) Mean (SD) or N |
Substantial chemosensory recovery (N = 503) Mean (SD) or N |
Statistic |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Smell recovery | 41.14 (35.69) | 13.37 (24.97) | 67.16 (21.97) | t = − 35.59, p < 0.0001 |
| Taste recovery | 40.35 (35.58) | 10.74 (21.58) | 68.07 (20.62) | t = − 42.32, p < 0.0001 |
| Chemesthesis recovery | 28.71 (34.87) | 7.55 (24.08) | 48.52 (31.63) | t = − 22.83, p < 0.0001 |
| Region of residency (Lombardy) | 653 (67%) | 292 (61.9%) | 361 (71.8%) | χ2 = 2.02, p = 0.15 |
| Gender (female) | 675 (69.3%) | 329 (48.7%) | 346 (51.2%) | χ2 = 0.0002, p = 0.98 |
| Age | 41.33 (11.37), range = 19–78 | 43.16 (11.74), range = 19–75 | 39.63 (10.75), range = 19–78 | t = 4.88, p < 0.0001 |
| Onset of symptoms (days) | 41.61(20), range = 3–177 | 43.15 (23.87), range = 3–177 | 40.17 (15.41), range = 7–152 | t = 2.30, p = 0.02 |
| COVID-19 diagnosis | 591 self-diagnosed (60.6%), 196 lab tested (20.1%), 187 clinical assessment (19.2%) | 279 self-diagnosed (59.2%), 107 lab tested (22.7%), 85 clinical assessment (18.02%) | 312 self-diagnosed (62.02%), 89 lab tested (17.7%), 102 clinical assessment (20.3%) | χ2 = 0.81, p = 0.66 |
| Smokers (yes) | 427 (43.8%) | 194 (41.18%) | 233 (46.3%) | χ2 = 0.35, p = 0.55 |
| Prior medical conditions (% based on presence of at least one prior medical condition) | 311 (31.9%) | 155 (32.9%) | 156 (31.01%) | χ2 = 0.02, p = 0.89 |
Significant differences between the two recovery groups are marked in bold.