Becker's Hospital Review

54 CMO / CARE DELIVERY 'Excellent prognosis' of loss of smell, taste returning in 1 year: 4 COVID-19 findings By Gabrielle Masson P ersistent loss of smell, also known as anosmia, linked to a COVID-19 diagnosis has an excellent progno- sis of nearly complete recovery at one year, according to study findings published June 24 by JAMA Network Open. Researchers studied patients with lab-con- firmed COVID-19 experiencing acute smell loss over the course of one year. At four- month intervals, patients were asked to com- plete a survey, and their olfactory function was assessed with psychophysical testing. Hyposmic — having reduced smell and taste — or anosmic patients were followed until objective recovery. Data analysis was performed from June 2020 to March 2021 for 97 patients with acute smell loss beyond seven days. Of the 97 patients, 69.1 percent were women with a mean age of 38.8 years. It should be noted that the cohort consisted mainly of women and patients younger than 50 years old, both factors positively associat- ed with full olfactory recovery. Four key study findings: 1. e long-term prognosis for a cohort of patients with anosmia is good. Overall, 96.1 percent of study participants objectively recovered by 12 months. 2. Two patients remained hyposmic at one year, with persistent abnormalities. 3. An additional 10 percent gain in recovery can be expected at 12 months, study find- ings suggest. is is compared with studies with six months follow-up that found only 85.9 percent of patients recover their sense of smell. 4. Discrepancies exist between self-as- sessed and objective testing, whereby participants tend to underappreciate the return of normosmia. n Patient gets kidney transplant meant for another patient at Cleveland hospital By Erica Carbajal T wo caregivers from University Hospitals in Cleveland are on administrative leave after a patient received a kidney intended for another patient, local ABC affiliate WEWS reported July 12. The transplant mix-up occurred on July 2, WEWS report- ed. A health system spokesperson confirmed the incident in a statement to Becker's. "We are dismayed that an error occurred resulting in one patient receiving a kidney intended for another," said George Stamatis, se- nior media relations strategist for University Hospitals. "The kidney is compatible, and the patient is recovering as expected. Another patient's transplant surgery has been delayed." Health system officials have notified the United Network for Organ Sharing — the organization that oversees the national organ trans- plant system — of the incident, Mr. Stamatis said. "We are also carefully reviewing this situation to understand what led to the error and to ensure that such an event will never happen again. Two of our caregivers are on administrative leave pending the determinations of our investigation. "We have offered our sincerest apologies to these patients and their families. We recognize they entrusted us with their care. The situa- tion is entirely inconsistent with our commitment to helping patients return to health and live life to the fullest," the statement said. University Hospitals has performed 2,761 kidney transplants since 1988, including 95 this year, and 194 last year, according to data from the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network cited by WEWS. n Delta spreads much faster than original virus — this may be why By Mackenzie Bean M ounting evidence suggests the delta variant is the most contagious strain in the world. A small study published online July 7 may help explain why, NPR reported July 21. The delta variant, first identified in India, grows faster in people's respiratory tracts and to much higher levels, according to researchers at the Guangdong Provincial Center for Disease Con- trol and Prevention in China. They analyzed virus levels in 62 people infect- ed during China's first delta variant outbreak between May 21 and June 18. They compared their findings to virus levels in 63 patients in- fected in 2020 by an earlier version of the virus. On average, viral load was about 1,000 times higher for people infected with delta, com- pared to those infected with the earlier strain, researchers found. It also took about four days on average for delta to reach detectable levels in study participants, compared to six days for the other strain. This finding suggests people with delta likely become infectious sooner and are spreading the virus earlier in the course of their infection, researchers said. n

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