Research Article - Journal of RNA and Genomics (2022) Volume 0, Issue 0

Patterns, Correlations, Severity and Diversity of Symptoms among Cohort of Home-Quarantined Covid-19 Patients.

Background: Angiotensin II enzyme (ACE2) was extensively investigated in SARS-CoV-2 as the viral entrance. The abundance, distribution and diversity of this enzyme dictate the wide range of symptoms patients suffer from during the acute phase of COVID-19 infection and determine late phase symptoms. Objective: To determine factors associated with diversity of COVID-19 symptoms and relationship of these symptoms to each other. Design and methods: This is a retrospective cohort study that involved 191 Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) positive COVID-19 patients who were symptomatic while home-quarantined between March 2020 and January 2021 in Hebron district, southern West Bank. A well-prepared questionnaire was used to gather clinical data and information about symptoms patients suffered from during the acute phase of infection. Results: One hundred ninety-one symptomatic PCR positive COVID-19 subjects were included in this study. They were 31.4±16.4 years old and 59.2 % females. Using Fisher`s exact test, there was a strong relationship between anorexia and loss of either taste, smell, or both or not losing any of them, p=0.002. Suffering from Gastrointestinal (GIT) symptoms; such as diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, or combination of them was associated with anorexia, p=0.002. We found a significant relationship between specific GIT symptoms and dizziness, or headache; p=0.00, for each one. There was a strong relationship between having any of the GIT symptoms and agues, or headache, p=0.045 and 0.000, respectively, on Pearson Chi-square test. There was also a relationship between gender and headache, p=0.002. Conclusion: Local or systemic GI symptoms, neurological symptoms (headache, dizziness) along with smell and taste are connected to each other via gut-brain axis or micro biota-gut-brain axis.

Author(s): Muamar M A, Shaheen, Manar A J, Junaidi Al

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