Awareness about unusual symptoms of COVID-19: A pilot survey among Indian adults

Dr. Sivakumar Pradeep; Dr. Kalpa Pandya; Dr. N Nagappan; Dr. Sivakumar Vidhyadharan; Dr. Naveen Hedne

Volume : IX, Issue : VI, June - 2020

Awareness about unusual symptoms of COVID-19: A pilot survey among Indian adults

Dr. Sivakumar Pradeep, Dr. Kalpa Pandya, Dr. N Nagappan, Dr. Sivakumar Vidhyadharan, Dr. Naveen Hedne

Abstract :

Background: Awareness about unusual symptoms of COVID–19 among general public is important as most of these symptoms may present either as initial symptoms or as the only symptom. This may help in early reporting and reducing the transmission from paucisymptomatic individuals. Objective: We conducted a survey among the Indian population to investigate their awareness about the unusual symptoms of COVID–19. Methods: This is a cross–sectional survey which was distributed via internet through the SurveyMonkey portal between the study period of 24th April, 2020 to 30th April, 2020 amongst the general public in Chennai. Out of the 500 requests sent, 281 responded to the survey. Informed consent was taken. Results: Respondents were well aware of the symptoms such as fever (95.73%), eathing difficulty (92.88%), cough (89.32%) and sore throat (73.67) and less aware of symptoms such as diarrhoea (27.40%), nausea (21.35%), anosmia (17.08%), ageusia (16.01%) and urticaria (10.68). Conclusion: The findings of our survey suggest that the majority of the respondents were aware of the common symptoms of COVID– 19 and most of them were ignorant of the unusual symptoms. Awareness on these unusual symptoms among general public may encourage them to report early to the physicians. The governing bodies should consider creating more awareness about these unusual symptoms so that suspicious individuals could be self–isolated or advised testing, thus preventing the potential transmission of the disease.