Researchers identify 6 different ‘types’ of COVID-19

Symptoms developed within the first week of the onset of a COVID-19 infection may determine the likelihood that a patient will require serious medical attention by the end of the second week, according to researchers at King’s College London.

The new study, which was not peer-reviewed but was replicated into a separate data set, could help doctors identify patients who need care and treat them sooner, possibly saving lives. It showed a wide variety of results and symptoms, some of which had not previously been related to COVID-19.

“These findings have important implications for the care and monitoring of people who are most vulnerable to severe COVID-19,” Dr. Claire Steves of King’s College said in a statement. “If you can predict who these people are on the fifth day, you have time to provide them with support and early interventions … simple care that could be provided at home, avoiding hospitalizations and saving lives.”

There were six different “types” of the virus that appeared in different “groups” of symptoms in patients on the fifth day of symptom onset, based on an analysis of approximately 1,600 patients in the United States and the United Kingdom who recorded their symptoms during March and April. . Most COVID-19 patients who require respiratory support first visit a hospital around day 13 after their first symptoms, the researchers said, which could cut eight days from the typical timeline before medical intervention.

The six groups can be divided into two groups: three groups of less severe symptoms, more prevalent in younger, healthier patients, and three groups defined as “severe” symptoms, which were more likely to appear in patients who were older or had preexistence. . terms

The researchers break them down as such, in order of severity with their key distinctions in bold:

1. (“flu-like” without fever): headache, loss of smell, muscle aches, cough, sore throat, chest pain, no fever.
2. (“flu-like” with fever): headache, loss of smell, cough, sore throat, hoarseness, fever, loss of appetite.
3. (gastrointestinal): headache, loss of smell, loss of appetite, Diarrhea, sore throat, chest pain, not cough.
4. (severe level one, fatigue): headache, loss of smell, cough, fever, hoarseness, chest pain, fatigue.
5. (severe level two, confusion): headache, loss of smell, loss of appetite, cough, fever, hoarseness, sore throat, chest pain, fatigue, confusion, Muscle pain.
6. (level three severe, abdominal and respiratory): headache, loss of smell, loss of appetite, cough, fever, hoarseness, sore throat, chest pain, fatigue, confusion, muscle pain, difficulty breathing, Diarrhea, abdominal pain.

The first group made up the largest proportion of participants, with a sample of 462, while there were 315 in the second group, 216 in the third, 280 in the fourth, 213 in the fifth and 167 in the sixth and most severe group of participants. . symptoms

All patients who developed symptoms reported headaches, followed by a decreased sense of smell. What happened after the first few days of symptoms sets the groups apart.

The headaches faded for all but the two most severe groups, who also began to develop a feeling of confusion after the first four to five days. Those two groups were also more likely to experience muscle aches and loss of appetite early on in the immune system response.

The three least severe groups barely reported fatigue in their first week of symptoms, while that began to appear around day three or four for the three most severe groups.

Only patients in the sixth and most severe group experienced abdominal pain, one of the few symptoms, including confusion and shortness of breath “not widely known as COVID-19 symptoms, but they are characteristic of the more severe forms of the disease “The researchers wrote, in some cases it was reported on the first day that a patient felt symptomatic.