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Meta-Analysis
. 2020 Oct 6;61(3):E304-E312.
doi: 10.15167/2421-4248/jpmh2020.61.3.1530. eCollection 2020 Sep.

Determine the most common clinical symptoms in COVID-19 patients: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Yousef Alimohamadi  1   2 , Mojtaba Sepandi  3   4 , Maryam Taghdir  3   5 , Hadiseh Hosamirudsari  6
Affiliations
Meta-Analysis

Determine the most common clinical symptoms in COVID-19 patients: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Yousef Alimohamadi et al. J Prev Med Hyg. .

Abstract

Introduction: COVID-19 is an emerging infectious disease. The study about features of this infection could be very helpful in better knowledge about this infectious disease. The current systematic review and meta-analysis were aimed to estimate the prevalence of clinical symptoms of COVID-19 in a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Methods: A systematic review using Medline/PubMed, Scopus, and Google scholar has been conducted. In the current systematic review and meta-analysis, the articles published in the period January 1, 2020, to April 2, 2020, written in English and reporting clinical symptoms of COVID-19 was reviewed. To assess, the presence of heterogeneity, the Cochran's Q statistic, the I2 index, and the tau-squared test were used. Because of significant heterogeneity between the studies the random-effects model with 95% CI was used to calculate the pooled estimation of each symptom prevalence.

Results: The most common symptoms in COVID-19 patients include: Fever 81.2% (95% CI: 77.9-84.4); Cough: 58.5% (95% CI: 54.2-62.8); Fatigue 38.5% (95% CI: 30.6-45.3); Dyspnea: 26.1% (95% CI: 20.4-31.8); and the Sputum: 25.8% (95% CI: 21.1-30.4). Based on the meta-regression results, the sample size used in different studies did not have a significant effect on the final estimate value (P > 0.05).

Conclusions: Considering the main symptoms of COVID-19 such as Fever, Cough, Fatigue, and Dyspnea can have a key role in early detection of this disease and prevent the transmission of the disease to other people.

Keywords: COVID-19; Clinical symptoms; Meta-analysis.

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Figures

Fig. 1.
Fig. 1.
PRISMA Flow Diagram for included studies in the current meta-analysis.
Fig. 2.
Fig. 2.
The forest plots of some symptoms among COVID-19 patients.
Fig. 3.
Fig. 3.
The distribution of estimated prevalence of symptoms according to different sample sizes (the X and Y axes are the sample size and estimated prevalence respectively).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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