Study finds there may be six types of COVID-19

Editor's Note

This study, led by researchers from King’s College London, analyzed data on 1,600 patients who reported their symptoms daily into an app.

They differentiated the patients into six groups from least to most severe symptoms:

• Headache, loss of smell, muscle pains, cough, sore throat, chest pain, no fever.
• Headache, loss of smell, cough, sore throat, hoarseness, fever, loss of appetite.
•  Headache, loss of smell, loss of appetite, diarrhea, sore throat, chest pain, no cough.
• Headache, loss of smell, cough, fever, hoarseness, chest pain, fatigue.
• Headache, loss of smell, loss of appetite, cough, fever, hoarseness, sore throat, chest pain, fatigue, confusion, muscle pain.
•  Headache, loss of smell, loss of appetite, cough, fever, hoarseness, sore throat, chest pain, fatigue, confusion, muscle pain, shortness of breath, diarrhea, abdominal pain.

Nearly half of patients with the most severe symptoms were admitted to the hospital, compared with 16% of those with least severe symptoms.

As a clinical tool, this approach could be implemented at local levels, allowing patients to be monitored remotely with alert system triggered when patients demonstrate symptoms associated with a high-risk group, the researchers say.