Epidemiological Assessment of COVID-19 Clinical Symptoms and Its Associated Factors from Banten Districts: The Role of Gender Aspects

Abstract

Objectives: The symptoms of COVID-19 resemble those of a variety of mild to severe clinical conditions. Having epidemiological knowledge of the clinical symptoms of COVID-19 and associated factors may help health workers to diagnose and manage the disease. Assessment of COVID-19’s clinical symptoms is therefore necessary to support health workers in Banten, Indonesia. Materials and Methods: In this descriptive cross-sectional study, we purposively analysed 1492 medical records from our online COVID-19 database. All data were analysed in a consecutive manner and were shown as percentages or significances. Results: Medical records revealed that 577 patients (39%) were male and 915 (61%) were female. Our sample contained 106 patients (7%) who tested positive for COVID-19. Among these 106 patients, 70 were asymptomatic (66%) while the rest (34%) had single or multiple clinical symptoms. The most common symptom was fever (16%), followed by cough (15%), fatigue (11%), headache (11%), dysphagia (10%), rhinorrhoea (8%), nausea (7%), dyspnoea (4%) and diarrhoea (2%). Subsequently, gender differences were found to be significantly associated with positive cases (p<0.05), the appearance of clinical symptoms (p<0.05), and decision whether to hospitalize or self-isolate (p<0.05). Conclusion: Fever, cough and fatigue predominated in the COVID-19 symptoms reported by our patients. Additionally, gender differences should be carefully considered in developing better management processes.