The first and the second waves of Covid-19;difference in clinical dynamics as regards the symptoms- an appraisal

ABSTRACT

Background: Covid-19 affected our population in multiple waves. We have looked for the differences in frequency and the weight/impact of symptoms between the first and the second waves. Method: The post-covid-19 subjects attending our out-patient department for post-covid-19 problems after the 1st and he 2nd waves were enquired retrospectively about the demography with the frequency and severity of different symptoms cough, breathlessness, throat pain, nasal discharge, fever, body-ache, weakness, diarrhoea, constipation, pedal/finger swelling, headache, expectoration. anosmia, and loss of taste) that they suffered from. The weight/impact of a symptom was derived by multiplying the duration of symptoms (in days) with the severity (in Likert scale;0 to 5;0=none and 5=maximum possible symptoms). The data was analysed statistically using unpaired 't-test' and 'chi-square test' to compare between the two covid-19 waves. Result: 185 and 222 subjects' data were included for the 1st and the 2nd waves of covid-19 respectively. The gender ratio was similar but the mean age was significantly lower in the victims of the second wave (56.17±13.64, 51.32±15.59;p=0.0017). As regards the symptom-frequency, fever (p=0.0154), constipation (p=0.0243), headache (p=0.0014), anosmia (p=<0.0001) and loss of taste (p=0.0009) were significantly worse in the 2nd wave. The symptom severity of cough (p=0.0184), throat pain (p=0.039), mild weakness (p=0.0063), anosmia (p=0.0004) and loss of taste (p=0.0026) were also higher in the 2nd wave of Covid-19. Conclusion: It appears that each wave of the pandemic was distinct as regards the symptomatology. Such peculiarity in the clinical dynamics of Covid-19 needs to be noticed and followed in future.