COVID-19 symptoms in the Pomeranian region

Abstract

Introduction: COVID-19 is a disease caused by pathogenic -coronavirus. As a relatively new disease, diagnosis of COVID-19 is highly problematic and because of non-specific symptoms the infection must be confirmed with molecular tests. Aim: Evaluation of the most common COVID-19 symptoms and statistical analysis of obtained data in order to confirm significant correlations between symptoms and age and sex of the examined patients. Material and methods: A questionnaire has been carried out among 751 patients of Center for Blood Donation in Gdansk and the Department of Otolaryngology in Gdansk. The patients were convalescents after SARS-CoV-2 infection. The presence of virus was confirmed by a positive PCR test of RNA of the SARS-CoV-2 virus of each patent. The study has been carried out since the beginning of the presence of COVID-19 in Pomerania region till April 2021. Results: Results of the questionnaires presented the most common general and otolaryngological symptoms of COVID-19. Collected data was statistically analyzed. Patients were divided according to age and sex. 30.2% of patients had severe clinical course of infection, 69.8% had mild clinical course. The most common general symptom associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection was fatigue, which was more common among women. Other common symptoms were loss of smell and taste, also more common among women, and muscle and joint pain. The most common other otolaryngological symptoms were sore throat and vertigo, all more frequent in men. Conclusion: The study presents the correlation between incidence of COVID-19 disease symptoms and age and sex of patients. Fatigue, loss of smell and taste and muscle and joint pain were the most common symptoms of the infection. Presented data highlights the meaning of further research on COVID-19 symptoms.