Study confirms 'classic' symptoms of COVID-19

Date:
June 24, 2020
Source:
University of Leeds
Summary:
A persistent cough and fever have been confirmed as the most
prevalent symptoms associated with COVID-19, according to a major
review of the scientific literature.



FULL STORY ==========================================================================
A persistent cough and fever have been confirmed as the most prevalent
symptoms associated with COVID-19, according to a major review of the scientific literature.


========================================================================== Other major symptoms include fatigue, losing the ability to smell and difficulty in breathing.

The study ratifies the list of symptoms listed by the World Health
Organisation at the start of the pandemic.

The researchers -- from five universities including the University of
Leeds in the UK -- combined data from 148 separate studies to identify
the common symptoms experienced by more than 24,000 patients from nine countries, including the UK, China and the US.

The study -- published in the online journal PLoS ONE -- is one of the
biggest reviews ever conducted into COVID-19 symptoms. The researchers
also acknowledge there is likely to be a large proportion of people who
had the virus but did not display symptoms .

Of the 24,410 cases, the study found:
* 78 percent had a fever. Although this tended to vary across
countries:
with 72 percent of fever reported by patients in Singapore and 32
percent in Korea.

* 57 percent reported a cough. Again, this varied across countries,
with 76
percent of patients reporting a cough in the Netherlands compared
to 18 percent in Korea.

* 31 percent said they had suffered fatigue.

* 25 percent lost the ability to smell.

* 23 percent reported difficulty breathing.

The researchers believe the variation in the prevalence of symptoms
between countries is due, in part, to the way data was collected.

Of those patients who needed hospital treatment, 17 percent needed
non-invasive help with their breathing; 19 percent had to be looked after
in an intensive care unit, nine percent required invasive ventilation and
two percent needed extra-corporeal membrane oxygenation, an artificial
lung.

Ryckie Wade, a surgeon and Clinical Research Fellow at the Leeds
Institute of Medical Research, supervised the research. He said: "This
analysis confirms that a cough and fever were the most common symptoms in people who tested positive with COVID-19." "This is important because
it ensures that people who are symptomatic can be quarantined, so they
are not infecting others.

"The study gives confidence to the fact that we have been right in
identifying the main symptoms and it can help determine who should
get tested." The study involved academics from the University of Leeds
with colleagues from the University of Sheffield, University of Bristol, Imperial College, London, and the Belgium Cancer Centre. The research
was funded by the UK's National Institute for Health Research and VALCOR,
in Belgium.


========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by University_of_Leeds. Note: Content
may be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Michael C. Grant, Luke Geoghegan, Marc Arbyn, Zakaria Mohammed, Luke
McGuinness, Emily L. Clarke, Ryckie G. Wade. The prevalence
of symptoms in 24,410 adults infected by the novel coronavirus
(SARS-CoV-2; COVID- 19): A systematic review and meta-analysis of
148 studies from 9 countries. PLOS ONE, 2020; 15 (6): e0234765 DOI:
10.1371/ journal.pone.0234765 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/06/200624100047.htm

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