Weakness, breathlessness most common symptoms among Covid patients in Pune

Pune: A study on the data of 6,631 critical patients uploaded to the Pune Municipal Corporation’s (PMC) app found weakness and breathlessness to be the most common symptom present in 3,657 Covid-19 patients.

A loss of smell and taste was reported in 10% of the patients. The study also showed that of all the admitted patients who turned critical, 69% did not have any comorbidity.

The study is based on data uploaded to the PMC’s iHealWell app for critical patients from 70 hospitals across the city. The patients were admitted between July 25 and October 28.

Data of 6,631 patients admitted to hospitals was entered into the database, of which 4,535 (68.5%) were male and 2,096 (31.5%) were female.

The average age of patients was 53.73 years.

The study also revealed that of these critical patients, 37.5% were admitted to oxygen beds, while 15.9% required a ventilator in ICU.

Diabetes (20%) and hypertension (20.8%) were the most common comorbidities among these critical patients.

The most common symptoms were weakness and breathlessness with close to 63% and 60% patients reporting these symptoms, while only 24% reported fever and 10% reported loss of smell or taste.

Some of the other symptoms reported were diarrhoea, nausea, vomiting, and body ache.

This data was analysed with an intent to reduce the case fatality ratio (CFR).

Dr Sanjay Pathare, medical director, Ruby Hall Clinic, said, “We report symptoms, including breathlessness and weakness which were most common. However, fever was the third most common symptom in critical Covid patient. The data from the app cannot be considered as factual as most private hospitals, including ours, were reluctant to update data on it since it was time consuming and tiring at the time when we were witnessing the peak in cases.”

Additional commissioner Rubal Agrawal said, “The data helps us understand that patient management system of critical patients in the city hospitals. However, it is also true that most hospitals refused to update information on the portal. The quantity may be low, but the conclusion is right based on the data uploaded.”