Longitudinal survey study reveals persistent olfactory dysfunction in over half of adults five years after COVID-19, indicating limited long-term sensory recovery beyond two years.
This scientific briefing reports preliminary 5-year recovery outcomes from COVID-19-associated smell loss in a nationwide cohort. Adults with confirmed COVID-19 infection and self-reported smell loss since January 2020 were surveyed through a longitudinal web-based questionnaire, and a follow-up survey was distributed to participants who had completed a prior 2-year study. Among 419 respondents (mean age 45.7 ± 13.7 years; 79.0% female; 84.5% white), 44.2% reported complete smell recovery, 48.4% partial recovery, and 7.4% no recovery or worsening smell. Complete recovery was significantly higher in participants younger than 40 years (P < .001) but did not differ by gender (P = .51). Compared with 2-year outcomes, the rate of complete recovery increased from 38.4% to 44.3%. These findings indicate that while modest additional recovery occurs beyond 2 years, olfactory dysfunction persists in more than half of patients 5 years after COVID-19-associated smell loss. While a much larger analysis is currently in progress, this report represents the longest-term results published to date.
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Tucker et al. (2026) studied this question.
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