SARS-Cov2: a meta-analysis of symptom distribution by continent in 7310 adult COVID-19 infected patients

Abstract

There is recent evidence that suggests that there are multiple strains of coronavirus in different parts of the world. Moreover, scientist have noted multiple mutations and postulated that these changes might increase the infective rate of the virus. However literature on varying severity of disease based on these strains is absent. In this meta-analysis, we have made an attempt to correlate the symptoms in different continents with respect to various studied strains of virus. We searched three databases, PubMed, EMBASE and EMCARE to identify studies reporting symptoms of COVID-19. All articles published between December 2019 and May 2020 was included in this meta-analysis. A total of 56 studies consisted of 7310 patients were included in the meta-analysis. Mean age of patients varied from 22 to 69.8 years. The pooled proportion of male patients was 52%. Highest incidence of fever (76%) and cough (56%) was noted in Chinese population. Sore throat (29%) was most common in Asian population. Upper respiratory tract symptom like Rhinorrhoea, Anosmia and dysgeusia (32%, 47% and 39%) were well documented in European population as compared to the other continents. Nausea and diarrhoea were more common in European (17%, 19%) and Australian (12%, 16%) population. Dyspnoea and fatigue were consistently similar in all the continents. We postulate that different mutations in COVID-19 virus may vary its pathogenicity and screening symptoms across all the continents should be not be generalised but continent-specific.