A Comparison of Nasal Mucociliary Clearance Time in COVID-19 and Variant COVID-19 Patients

Objective: The aim of this study was to compare nasal mucociliary clearance times in coronavirus disease 2019 and variant coronavirus disease 2019 patients and a control group. Methods: The study was conducted in Karaman Training and Research Hospital between April 2021 and June 2021. Three groups were formed. Group 1 included 41 coronavirus disease 2019 patients, group 2 included 41 patients diagnosed with variant coronavirus disease 2019, and group 3 included 42 patients from the ear, nose, and throat polyclinic with no nasal symptoms. The primary outcome was nasal mucociliary clearance time and sinonasal outcome test-22 scores. Results: The mean nasal mucociliary clearance time was 12.87 [+ or -] 2.46 minutes in group 1, 14.02 [+ or -] 2.95 minutes in group 2, and 8.57 [+ or -] 1.25 minutes in group 3. Nasal mucociliary clearance time was significantly different between groups 1 and 3 and between groups 2 and 3 but not between groups 1 and 2 (P = .07). The nasal mucociliary clearance times of group 2 were determined to be higher than those of group 1. The mean sinonasal outcome test-22 score was 24.70 [+ or -] 6.65 in group 1 and 23.92 [+ or -] 7.01 in group 2, with no significant difference determined between the groups (P > .05). Conclusion: Nasal mucociliary clearance time was higher in coronavirus disease 2019 and variant coronavirus disease 2019 patients than in the control group. There is a need for further studies to be able to understand the underlying pathophysiology of prolonged nasal mucociliary clearance time. Keywords: COVID-19, variant COVID-19, nasal, mucociliary clearance time, saccharin test