Differences Between Patients With Chronic Epipharyngitis With and Without Previous COVID-19 Infection.

Objective Epipharyngeal abrasive therapy (EAT) is effective in patients with chronic epipharyngitis who previously had coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The study aimed to evaluate differences between patients with chronic epipharyngitis with (long COVID) or without a history of COVID-19 (non-long COVID). Methods This is a retrospective study based on the analysis of medical records of patients who visited the Mogitate ENT Clinic in Kawasaki, Japan, for six months from March 2022. Results Patients with long COVID were significantly younger (p=0.018). Fatigue and brain fog were prevalent in patients with long COVID, whereas throat discomfort, postnasal drip, and sputum were more common in those with non-long COVID. Epipharyngeal endoscopic findings in patients with long COVID showed significantly higher scores (p<0.001) compared with patients with non-long COVID. Conclusions The primary differences between patients with long COVID and non-long COVID were age, symptoms, and severity scores of endoscopic findings. The EAT should be aggressively implemented in patients with chronic epipharyngitis with or without COVID-19 infection, as there is no reason not to treat a patient with a condition caused by COVID-19 infection.