Dyspnea, hemoptysis, anorexia, diarrhea, fatigue and abdominal pain are associated with severe COVID-19

Afbeelding

Objectives:
Precise international estimates of the age breakdown of COVID-19-related deaths and intensive-care-unit (ICU) admissions are lacking. Therefore, this review article has been conducted.

Which initial manifestations of COVID-19 are associated with disease deterioration?

Study design:
This review article included 20 articles with a total of 3,326 COVID-19 confirmed cases.

Results and conclusions:   
The investigators found that cough [OR = 1.4, 95% CI = 1.2 to 1.7, p 0.001], fever [OR = 1.5, 95% CI = 1.2 to 1.9, p 0.001], dyspnea [OR = 6.2, 95% CI = 3.6 to 10.6, p 0.001], diarrhea [OR = 2.6, 95% CI = 1.3 to 4.9, p 0.001], fatigue [OR = 2.1, 95% CI = 1.3 to 3.3, p 0.01], expectoration [OR = 1.7, 95% CI = 1.2 to 2.6, p 0.01], myalgia [OR = 1.6, 95% CI = 0.8 to 3.1, p 0.001], hemoptysis [OR = 4.0, 95% CI = 1.5 to 11.3, p 0.001], abdominal pain [OR = 7.5, 95% CI = 2.4 to 23.4, p 0.001] and anorexia [OR = 2.8, 95% CI = 1.5 to 5.1, p 0.001] had a different distribution in 2 groups (severe group and mild group) and were statistically significant [p 0.05].

The investigators concluded that COVID-19 patients whose initial manifestation is dyspnea, hemoptysis, anorexia, diarrhea or fatigue, especially abdominal pain should be closely monitored to prevent disease deterioration.

Original title:
Clinical Symptom Differences Between Mild and Severe COVID-19 Patients in China: A Meta-Analysis by He X, Cheng X, […], Xiong M.

Link:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7841395/

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