EARLY symptoms resulting from a Covid-19 infection differ between men and women and among different age groups, research suggests.
The study, which looked at data from the Zoe Covid Symptom Study app, found that following Covid-19 infection, men were more likely to report shortness of breath, fatigue, chills, and fever, while women were more likely to report loss of smell, chest pain and a persistent cough.
The researcher from King’s College London (KCL) also found those aged 60 and above were more likely to report diarrhoea symptoms but loss of smell was less common among this age group.
The findings, published in the journal Lancet Digital Health, are based on modelling using artificial intelligence to predict early signs of Covid-19 infection.
Lead author, Claire Steves, Reader at KCL, said: “It’s important people know the earliest symptoms are wide-ranging and may look different for each member of a family or household.
“Testing guidance could be updated to enable cases to be picked up earlier, especially in the face of new variants which are highly transmissible.
“This could include using widely available lateral flow tests for people with any of these non-core symptoms.”
The research team examined 18 different symptoms associated with Covid-19, and the early signs included loss of smell, chest pain, persistent cough, abdominal pain, blisters on the feet, eye soreness and unusual muscle pain.
The academics also found fever was not an early feature of the disease in any age group – despite being a known Covid-19 symptom.
They said their modelling study was used on the original strain of the virus that first appeared in Wuhan, China, as well as the Alpha variant of coronavirus.
However, they added, that the findings suggest the symptoms of the Delta variant and subsequent variants will also differ across population groups.
Dr Marc Modat, Senior Lecturer at KCL, said: “As part of our study, we have been able to identify that the profile of symptoms due to Covid-19 differs from one group to another.
“This suggests that the criteria to encourage people to get tested should be personalised using individuals’ information such as age.
“Alternatively, a larger set of symptoms could be considered, so the different manifestations of the disease across different groups are taken into account.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here