Admission signs, symptoms and severity of illness on admission related to COVID-19 in hospitalised patients with and without an ID diagnosis
| Controls | ID group | P value of comparison | |||
| n (%) | N | n (%) | N | ||
| Cough | 972 (67.6) | 1438 | 309 (64.6) | 478 | 0.239 |
| Cough with sputum production* | 285 (22.7) | 1254 | 58 (14.6) | 397 | <0.001 |
| Cough with bloody sputum | 41 (3.3) | 1240 | 9 (2.3) | 393 | 0.401 |
| Fever | 1004 (69.6) | 1442 | 335 (69.8) | 480 | 1.000 |
| Sore throat | 123 (10.4) | 1186 | 29 (8.0) | 364 | 0.191 |
| Runny nose* | 49 (4.2) | 1168 | 6 (1.7) | 357 | 0.023 |
| Wheezing | 94 (7.7) | 1228 | 41 (10.1) | 407 | 0.145 |
| Ear pain | 7 (0.6) | 1150 | 3 (0.8) | 364 | 0.711 |
| Chest pain* | 225 (17.8) | 1267 | 35 (8.7) | 404 | <0.001 |
| Muscle aches* | 275 (23.1) | 1192 | 30 (8.4) | 357 | <0.001 |
| Joint pain | 70 (6.1) | 1147 | 18 (5.1) | 356 | 0.520 |
| Fatigue | 511 (40.7) | 1254 | 145 (37.5) | 387 | 0.260 |
| Shortness of breath* | 953 (67.3) | 1416 | 274 (59.8) | 458 | 0.004 |
| Disturbance or loss of taste* | 51 (8.8) | 578 | 3 (1.4) | 207 | <0.001 |
| Disturbance or loss of smell* | 36 (6.1) | 588 | 1 (0.5) | 212 | <0.001 |
| Headache* | 177 (14.9) | 1184 | 20 (5.5) | 362 | <0.001 |
| Altered consciousness or confusion* | 233 (17.6) | 1326 | 124 (29.9) | 415 | <0.001 |
| Seizures | 28 (2.2) | 1291 | 41 (9.9) | 415 | <0.001 |
| Abdominal pain | 187 (14.6) | 1280 | 53 (13.2) | 403 | 0.514 |
| Vomiting and/or nausea* | 323 (24.3) | 1329 | 67 (15.7) | 426 | <0.001 |
| Diarrhoea* | 279 (21.0) | 1327 | 58 (13.4) | 432 | <0.001 |
| Conjunctivitis | 11 (0.9) | 1205 | 4 (1.0) | 384 | 0.767 |
| Lymphadenopathy | 10 (0.8) | 1206 | 0 (0.0) | 390 | 0.131 |
| Skin rash | 33 (2.7) | 1228 | 8 (2.0) | 396 | 0.581 |
| Skin ulcers | 19 (1.5) | 1231 | 6 (1.5) | 401 | 1.000 |
| Haemorrhage | 19 (1.5) | 1261 | 4 (1.0) | 416 | 0.626 |
| Requirement of oxygen therapy on admission* | 406 (28.9) | 1407 | 170 (35.1) | 484 | 0.011 |
| Median respiratory rate (breaths per minute) on admission (IQR)** | 21 (10–50) | 1404 | 22 (10–48) | 464 | 0.009 |
| Mean clinical frailty score (SD) | 3.55 (2.17) | 437 | 5.14 (1.89) | 175 | <0.0001 |
The number of patients in the ID group presenting with COVID-19 related symptoms on admission to hospital, compared with controls using Fisher’s exact test.
*Significant difference between the ID group and controls.
Significant differences between the ID group and controls are highlighted in bold.
**We excluded respiratory rate values that were below 10 or higher than 50 breaths per minute as such data were considered outliers.
ID, intellectual disabilities.