Abstract
Background and objectivesPeople with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) have had a wide range of symptoms reported such as fever or chills, cough, shortness of breath or difficulty breathing, fatigue, muscle or body aches, headache, a new loss of taste or smell, sore throat, congestion or runny nose, nausea or vomiting and diarrhea. The severity of disease, mortality, symptoms of COVID-19 showed significant variation in different parts of the world. The purpose of this study was to describe epidemiological characteristics and symptoms of confirmed COVID-19 patients and to identify factors associated with the severity of the disease.MethodsThis is a cross-sectional descriptive study conducted on hospitalized COVID-19 patients from May 2020 to July 2020. We obtained data on the demographic characteristics, symptoms, and infection severity for 150 patients by pre-tested semi-structured interview. Information was recorded in a Microsoft Excel sheet and exported to SPSS Statistics (Armonk, NY: IBM Corp.) for analysis.ResultsThe median age of the patients was 31.5 years, where 42% of the patients were female; 52.7% of patients were symptomatic while 47.3% of patients were asymptomatic. Common symptoms at the time of admission were fever (40.5%), sore throat (36.7%), cough (32.9%), rhinitis (19.0%), and body ache (13.9%). At least one comorbidity was reported in 20.0% of the patients, with the most common comorbidity being hypertension (14.7%). History of contact with known confirmed cases of COVID-19 within the last 14 days was present in 94% of patients. The presence of any coexisting illness was significantly higher among patients with severe disease than among those with non-severe disease (80% vs. 17.9%, p=0.012).ConclusionsHigh proportions of COVID-19 patients were asymptomatic in our study. Fever and cough were the most common symptoms. The presence of any coexisting illness was significantly higher among patients with severe disease than among those with a non-severe disease.
Highlights
IntroductionThe first human cases of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, subsequently named severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) were first reported by officials in Wuhan City, China, in December 2019
People with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) have had a wide range of symptoms reported such as fever or chills, cough, shortness of breath or difficulty breathing, fatigue, muscle or body aches, headache, a new loss of taste or smell, sore throat, congestion or runny nose, nausea or vomiting and diarrhea
High proportions of COVID-19 patients were asymptomatic in our study
Summary
The first human cases of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, subsequently named severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) were first reported by officials in Wuhan City, China, in December 2019. People with COVID-19 have had a wide range of symptoms reported such as fever or chills, cough, shortness of breath or difficulty breathing, fatigue, muscle or body aches, headache, the new loss of taste or smell, sore throat, congestion, or runny nose, nausea or vomiting, and diarrhea [2]. It has been found that severity of disease, mortality, and symptoms of COVID19 show significant variation in different parts of the world. People with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) have had a wide range of symptoms reported such as fever or chills, cough, shortness of breath or difficulty breathing, fatigue, muscle or body aches, headache, a new loss of taste or smell, sore throat, congestion or runny nose, nausea or vomiting and diarrhea. The purpose of this study was to describe epidemiological characteristics and symptoms of confirmed COVID-19 patients and to identify factors associated with the severity of the disease
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