A group of researchers at King's College London say they have determined the symptoms which will likely indicate the necessity for COVID-19 patients to require ventilator treatment. According to a report that appeared in The Guardian, the team employed machine learning to evaluate whether certain symptoms were likely to appear simultaneously. The results suggest six different groupings based on the type of symptoms, time of occurrence, and their duration within the first 14 days of patients' sickness.
The team believes advanced warnings of likely symptoms for different categories of patients will provide healthcare workers additional time to acquire respiratory equipment and prepare hospital beds. It also claims grouping patients according to early warning signs will enable physicians to determine indicators of deterioration, allowing them to provide advanced treatment.
According to the report, the group used a Smartphone application to map out the progress of 1,653 virus patients over a two-week period. At the end of the study, it was able to separate patients into six distinct groups:
- Group 1: The biggest group featured patients with respiratory tract symptoms. Approximately 1.5% of the group required respiratory support.
- Group 2: Mostly upper respiratory tract issues. 4.4% required respiratory support, with 17.5% hospitalized at some point in their treatment.
- Group 3: Mostly digestive symptoms. With just 3.7% of this group requiring respiratory support, almost 24% were hospitalized at least once.
- Group 4: Severe weakness, ongoing chest pain, and cough. 8.6% of this group required respiratory support, with 23.6% hospitalized at some point in their treatment.
- Group 5: Confusion, lack of appetite, extreme fatigue. 9.9% of this group required respiratory support; 24.6% requiring hospitalization at least once.
- Group 6: Noticeable problems breathing. Almost 20% of this group needed respiratory support and 45.5% required at least one hospital stay. Smallest-sized group numbering just 167 participants.
The team said that the initial five days of treatment were critical in determining whether patients would require respiratory assistance and that in 79% of the cases, they could make this assessment within that time period.