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London:
The first symptoms indicating a COVID-19 infection vary between age groups and also between men and women, according to new British research.
The study, which was published in the journal ‘The Lancet Digital Health’ on Thursday, was carried out by researchers at King’s College London using data from the self-reported ZOE COVID Symptom Study app.
They looked at 19 symptoms, the most common of which were a persistent cough and loss of smell, as well as abdominal pain and blisters in the feet.
“We sought to estimate the likelihood of an individual being infected with SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) based on the first self-reported symptoms to allow for timely self-isolation and urgent testing.” , note the researchers.
“The performance of the model for predicting COVID-19 positivity was compared in terms of sensitivity, specificity and the area under the operating characteristic curve (AUC) of the receptor in the test set,” they said. .
According to their results, in people over 60, the loss of smell was not significant and was not at all relevant in people over 80. But these older age groups were more likely to suffer from diarrhea.
For people aged 40 to 59, a persistent cough had a higher relevance for detecting COVID-19 and chills or chills had a lower relevance compared to people 80 years or older. Chest pain, unusual muscle pain, shortness of breath, and loss of smell were the most relevant characteristics for people aged 60 to 70.
In terms of gender variations, men were the most likely to report shortness of breath, fatigue, chills, and fever. Women were more likely to report loss of smell, chest pain, and persistent cough.
“It is important for people to know that early symptoms are varied and may seem different for each member of a family or household,” said Claire Steves, one of the authors from King’s College London.
“The testing guidelines could be updated to allow cases to be detected earlier, especially in the face of new, highly transmissible variants. This could include the use of lateral flow tests widely available for people with the disease. one of those non-essential symptoms, ”she said. .
The study’s interpretation concludes that early detection based on this model is crucial to contain the spread of COVID-19 and effectively allocate medical resources.
(This story was not edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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