Early COVID-19 symptoms differ among age groups, research finds

Date:
July 30, 2021
Source:
King's College London
Summary:
Symptoms for early COVID-19 infection differ among age groups and
between men and women, new research has found.



FULL STORY ========================================================================== Symptoms for early COVID-19 infection differ among age groups and between
men and women, new research has found. These differences are most notable between younger age groups (16 to 59 years) compared to older age groups
(60 to 80 years and over), and men have different symptoms compared to
women in the early stages of COVID-19 infection.


==========================================================================
The paper, published today in The Lancet Digital Health, and led by
researchers from King's College London analyses data from the ZOE
COVID Symptom Study app between April 20th to 15th October 2020. App contributors are invited to get tested as soon as they report any new
symptoms, thanks to a joint initiative with the Department of Health
and Social Care. The researchers modelled the early signs of COVID-19
infection and successfully detected 80% of cases when using three days
of self-reported symptoms.

Researchers compared the ability to predict early signs of COVID-19
infection using current National Health Service UK diagnostic criteria
and a Hierarchical Gaussian Process model, a type of machine learning.

This machine learning model was able to incorporate some characteristics
about the person affected, such as age, sex, and health conditions,
and showed that symptoms of early COVID-19 infection are different among various groups.

18 symptoms were examined, which had different relevance for early
detection in different groups. The most important symptoms for earliest detection of COVID- 19 overall included loss of smell, chest pain,
persistent cough, abdominal pain, blisters on the feet, eye soreness and unusual muscle pain. However, loss of smell lost significance in people
over 60 years of age and was not relevant for subjects over 80. Other
early symptoms such as diarrhoea were key in older age groups (60-79 and

80). Fever, while a known symptom of disease, was not an early feature

of the disease in any age group.

Men were more likely to report shortness of breath, fatigue, chills
and shivers, whereas women were more likely to report loss of smell,
chest pain and a persistent cough.

While these models were generated in the COVID Symptom study app,
models were replicated across time suggesting they would also apply to
non-app contributors. Although the models were used on the first strain
of the virus and Alpha variants, the key findings suggest the symptoms
of the Delta variant and subsequent variants will also differ across
population groups.

Lead author, Claire Steves, Reader at King's College London said: "Its important people know the earliest symptoms are wide-ranging and may look different for each member of a family or household. Testing guidance
could be updated to enable cases to be picked up earlier, especially
in the face of new variants which are highly transmissible. This could
include using widely available lateral flow tests for people with any of
these non-core symptoms." Dr Liane dos Santos Canas, first author from
King's College London, said: "Currently, in the UK, only a few symptoms
are used to recommend self-isolation and further testing. Using a larger
number of symptoms and only after a few days of being unwell, using AI,
we can better detect COVID-19 positive cases.

We hope such a method is used to encourage more people to get tested
as early as possible to minimise the risk of spread." Dr Marc Modat,
Senior Lecturer at King's College London, said: "As part of our study,
we have been able to identify that the profile of symptoms due to
COVID- 19 differs from one group to another. This suggests that the
criteria to encourage people to get tested should be personalised
using individuals' information such as age. Alternatively, a larger
set of symptoms could be considered, so the different manifestations
of the disease across different groups are taken into account." ========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by King's_College_London. Note: Content
may be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Liane S Canas, Carole H Sudre, Joan Capdevila Pujol, Lorenzo
Polidori,
Benjamin Murray, Erika Molteni, Mark S Graham, Kerstin Klaser,
Michela Antonelli, Sarah Berry, Richard Davies, Long H Nguyen, David
A Drew, Jonathan Wolf, Andrew T Chan, Tim Spector, Claire J Steves,
Sebastien Ourselin, Marc Modat. Early detection of COVID-19 in
the UK using self- reported symptoms: a large-scale, prospective,
epidemiological surveillance study. The Lancet Digital Health,
2021; DOI: 10.1016/S2589- 7500(21)00131-X ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/07/210730165439.htm

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