A new large-scale review has confirmed some of the main symptoms associated with COVID-19, including persistent cough, fever, and loss of smell.
Conducted by researchers at the University of Leeds, UK, along with four other universities, the new review is one of the largest so far to investigate the symptoms of COVID-19 and includes data from 148 separate studies.
In total, the researchers had access to data on 24,410 adult cases of COVID-19 in nine countries, including the United Kingdom, China and the USA. USA, which allowed them to identify the common symptoms of the virus.
The findings, published in the online journal PLoS ONE, showed that the most common symptom of the virus was fever, which was found in 78 percent of COVID-19 cases. However, the researchers also found that rates of this symptom varied from country to country, with 72 percent of patients in Singapore reporting fever, compared to only 32 percent of patients in Korea. The second most common symptom was cough, which is found in 57 percent of patients, but again, the number of patients reporting this symptom varied in each country, from 76 percent in the Netherlands compared to 18 percent in Korea. The researchers say these variations could be due to the way the data was collected.
Other common symptoms include fatigue (31 percent of cases), loss of smell (25 percent), and difficulty breathing (23 percent).
The researchers also found that of the patients who required hospital treatment, 19 percent were in the intensive care unit, 17 percent needed non-invasive help with their breathing, 9 percent needed invasive ventilation, and 2 percent needed an artificial lung. The mortality rate was seven percent.
They say the findings confirm the list of symptoms given by the World Health Organization at the start of the pandemic. However, they also add that a large proportion of people who had the virus were likely to show no symptoms.
Ryckie Wade, a surgeon and Clinical Research Fellow at the Leeds Medical Research Institute who oversaw the research, commented on the findings saying, “This analysis confirms that cough and fever were the most common symptoms in people who tested positive for COVID. -19. “
“This is important because it ensures that symptomatic people can be quarantined, so they are not infecting others.”
“The study gives confidence that we have been correct in identifying the main symptoms and can help determine who should be tested.”
