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CORONAVIRUS – Headache and loss of smell are the most common symptoms of Covid-19 in European patients with mild to moderate form of the disease, according to a study released on April 30, which highlights that the disease takes different forms depending on age and gender.
The researchers behind this study also note that the frequency of symptoms varies with age and gender. Thus, young patients more often have ENT disorders (ear, nose and throat) while older patients often have fever, fatigue and loss of appetite.
Cough and fever are more common in men, with women being more affected by loss of smell, headache and stuffy nose.
Clogged nose more common than cough
Overall, seven in ten sufferers have headaches and loss of smell, concludes study published in the Journal of Intern Medicine and conducted with more than 1,400 patients with confirmed new coronavirus infection by a screening test.
The other most common symptoms were a stuffy nose (67.8%), coughing (63.2%) and fatigue (63.3%), followed by muscle pain (62.5%), a nose that leaks (60.1%) and loss of taste (54.2%). In contrast, fever was only reported by less than half of the patients (45.4%).
This first epidemiological survey of European patients with a non-severe form of Covid-19 was launched by the International Federation of ENT Societies (IFOS), to assess the frequency of symptoms of loss of smell (anosmia) and taste (ageusia), reported by some patients since the arrival of the pandemic on the European continent.
A large-scale study
Their preliminary results published in early April had shown the frequency of these symptoms, little described until now by studies in Asia. Their comprehensive study in five European countries (France, Belgium, Italy, Spain and Switzerland) confirms that loss of smell is “a specific symptom” of Covid-19, not just the result of nasal blockage.
“The ability of Covid-19 to invade the olfactory bulb and, therefore, the central nervous system, is probably a clue” to explain the anosmia, points out the Foch Hospital.
Anosmia and ageusia have been very little described in studies in Chinese patients, which mainly reported fever, cough and difficulty breathing as symptoms of Covid-19.
The IFOS study finds that this difference can be explained by the fact that the Chinese studies focused on hospitalized patients with more severe forms of infection.
The authors also hypothesize that successive genetic mutations in the coronavirus could be the cause of different symptoms, and that European populations have a higher level of angiotensin 2 converting enzyme, or ACE2, which acts as a coronavirus receptor.
See also on The HuffPost: Coronavirus: Even by speaking, you risk transmitting the disease
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