Symptomatology associated with the diffusion of the SARS-CoV-2 Lambda variant in Peru: An infodemiologic analysis
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Abstract
The SARS-CoV-2 (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2) Lambda variant rapidly diffused across Peru following its identification in December 2020, and had now spread worldwide. In this study, we investigated infodemiologic trends in symptomatology associated with the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) following the spread of SARS-CoV-2 Lambda variant in Peru, enabling infodemiologic surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 in regions with high circulation of this new variant. Weekly Google Trends scores were obtained for key symptom keywords between March 1 st , 2020 and July 4 th , 2021, whilst case count data were obtained from Peruvian Ministry of Health. Multiple time series linear regression was used to assess trends in each score series, using the week of December 27 th as cutoff for emergence of the Lambda variant. The significance of such trends was tested for each time period, before and after the cutoff date. A total 2,075,484 confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infections in Peru in relation to Google Trends data were analyzed. After Lambda variant emergence, searches for “diarrhea” demonstrated a change from a negative to positive correlation with weekly case counts and anticipated dynamic changes in case counts by 1-5 weeks. Searches for “shortness of breath” and “headache” remained consistently positively correlated to weekly case counts before and after Lambda emergence. No changes in searches for other common cold symptoms were observed, while no specific trends were observed for “taste loss” or “smell loss”. Diarrhea, headache, and shortness of breath appear to be the most important symptoms for infodemiologic tracking the current outbreak in Peru and other regions with high circulation of SARS-CoV-2 Lambda variant.
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SciScore for 10.1101/2021.08.24.21262245: (What is this?)
Please note, not all rigor criteria are appropriate for all manuscripts.
Table 1: Rigor
Ethics Consent: The analysis was conducted solely based on the searches of unrestricted, publicly available databases; thus, no informed consent or institutional review board approval were required.
IRB: The analysis was conducted solely based on the searches of unrestricted, publicly available databases; thus, no informed consent or institutional review board approval were required.Sex as a biological variable not detected. Randomization not detected. Blinding not detected. Power Analysis not detected. Table 2: Resources
No key resources detected.
Results from OddPub: We did not detect open data. We also did not detect open code. Researchers are encouraged to share open data when possible (see Nature blog).
SciScore for 10.1101/2021.08.24.21262245: (What is this?)
Please note, not all rigor criteria are appropriate for all manuscripts.
Table 1: Rigor
Ethics Consent: The analysis was conducted solely based on the searches of unrestricted, publicly available databases; thus, no informed consent or institutional review board approval were required.
IRB: The analysis was conducted solely based on the searches of unrestricted, publicly available databases; thus, no informed consent or institutional review board approval were required.Sex as a biological variable not detected. Randomization not detected. Blinding not detected. Power Analysis not detected. Table 2: Resources
No key resources detected.
Results from OddPub: We did not detect open data. We also did not detect open code. Researchers are encouraged to share open data when possible (see Nature blog).
Results from LimitationRecognizer: We detected the following sentences addressing limitations in the study:Furthermore, limitations to internet access, especially in rural regions of the country may partially bias the results. Seasonal cold and influenza patterns with similar baseline symptoms could also in part bias the results. Finally, increasing familiarity with key COVID-19 symptoms among the general public, especially pathognomonic symptoms like loss of taste and smell, could be confounding our analysis. Nonetheless, this would have important implications for the use of such symptoms to infodemiologically monitor the evolving pandemic.
Results from TrialIdentifier: No clinical trial numbers were referenced.
Results from Barzooka: We did not find any issues relating to the usage of bar graphs.
Results from JetFighter: We did not find any issues relating to colormaps.
Results from rtransparent:- Thank you for including a conflict of interest statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
- Thank you for including a funding statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
- No protocol registration statement was detected.
Results from scite Reference Check: We found no unreliable references.
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