Evidence map›Paper›PMID 33768443›Full record

ArticleIrish journal of medical science2022

An analysis of patient self-reported COVID-19 symptoms during the first wave of the pandemic in Ireland.

Claire Gibbons, Mouzzam Hussain, Derek T O'Keeffe, Andrew J Simpkin

Open access · bronzeAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Irish journal of medical science, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
5citing papers in PubMed, 2 pooled it
0.8field-weighted citation impact, top 26% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

5 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 7 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Pooled it
  3. Review
  4. Taste loss as a distinct symptom of COVID-19: A systematic review and meta-analysis.medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences · 2021
    Article
  5. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.

Claire GibbonsSchool of Medicine, College of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences, National University of Ireland, Galway, Ireland. clairegibbons2017@gmail.com.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6845-1607
Mouzzam HussainSchool of Medicine, College of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences, National University of Ireland, Galway, Ireland.
Derek T O'KeeffeSchool of Mathematics, Statistics and Applied Mathematics, National University of Ireland, Galway, Ireland.
Andrew J SimpkinSchool of Mathematics, Statistics and Applied Mathematics, National University of Ireland, Galway, Ireland.
Ollscoil na Gaillimhe – University of Galway · IE

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundSince the outbreak of COVID-19 in December 2019, there have been more than 115 million cases worldwide (1). Symptoms of COVID-19 vary widely and the spectrum of clinical presentation has yet to be fully characterised (2). Many countries have detailed their early experience with COVID-19, with a focus on the clinical characteristics of the disease. However, to our knowledge, there has been no such study detailing symptoms in the Irish population.

aimOur aim is to describe COVID-19 symptoms in the Irish population at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic and compare symptoms between those reporting positive and negative test results.

methodA Web page MyCovidSymptoms.ie was created by researchers at the National University of Ireland, Galway, in April 2020 to investigate COVID-19 symptoms in Ireland. The Web page invited participants to self-report RT-PCR test outcome data (positive, negative, untested), temperature and a range of symptoms (cough, shortness of breath, fatigue, loss of taste, loss of smell).

resultsOne hundred and twenty-three Irish participants who had a RT-PCR test for COVID-19 logged their symptoms. Eighty-four patients reported that they tested positive for COVID-19, and 39 patients reported a negative COVID-19 test. In our cohort of respondents with a positive COVID-19 test, 49/84 (58%) respondents reported a cough. Of the 39 respondents with a negative COVID-19 test, 17 (44%) reported having a cough. The distribution of temperature was similar in both those with and without COVID-19. Levels of self-reported fatigue were high in both groups with 65/84 (77%) of COVID-19-positive patients reporting fatigue and 30/39 (77%) of those who were COVID-19-negative reporting fatigue. New symptoms emerging at the time of data collection included loss of taste and smell. We demonstrated a higher proportion of loss of smell (p = 0.02) and taste (p = 0.01) in those reporting a positive result, compared to those reporting a negative result.

conclusionThese data represents an early picture of the clinical characteristics of COVID-19 in an Irish population. It also highlights the potential use of self-reported data globally as a powerful tool in helping with the pandemic.

Indexed as

COVID-19PandemicsHumansIrelandSARS-CoV-2Self ReportClinical characteristicsCOVID-19Digital HealthInnovationSymptoms

Identifiers

PMID33768443
PMCPMC7993982
OpenAlexW3138460712

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.