OBJECTIVES: The aim was to identify relevant patient reported outcome (PRO) instruments used to screen for patients with symptoms of COVID-19 and measure their treatment outcomes in clinical and epidemiological studies.

METHODS: A literature search was conducted to identify PRO symptom instruments developed to screen patients and/or monitor treatment outcomes of COVID-19. The searches were conducted in early May 2021 using ePROVIDE, PubMed Medline, and grey literature search using a generic search engine. The following key words were used: COVID-19, symptom diary, symptom instrument and results were limited to the past two years. Results from the literature review were combined and compared against a recently published qualitative interview study with patients recovering from COVID-19 (Rofail et al, MAD-ID 2021) to evaluate conceptual overlap among diaries and patient-reported concepts.

RESULTS: Seven acute COVID-19 diaries and one post COVID-19 symptom/functioning scale were identified from the targeted literature search. Symptoms present across all diaries and reported in the qualitative study included: cough, diarrhea, dyspnea/difficulty breathing, sore throat, myalgia/muscle pain, fever, loss of smell, fatigue, vomiting, headache, loss of taste, loss of appetite/anorexia, nausea, runny nose/stuffy nose. Somewhat frequently reported symptoms captured by at least three diaries and the qualitative study included: abdominal/stomach pain, chills/feeling cold, chest pain, chest discomfort/pressure/tightness, sneezing, sputum, vision disorders/conjunctivitis, constipation, dizziness, epigastric soreness, head congestion, sinus pressure, skin lesions, sweating, tachycardia/heart palpitations and teary or watery eyes. Symptoms that were only reported in the qualitative study included: body ache, back pain, earache, mental fatigue/sleepiness, skin rash, swollen glands, and not feeling like oneself.

CONCLUSIONS: There are a number of common symptoms similarities across the diaries that were frequently reported in qualitative research. However, there were several discrepancies across diaries for included and excluded symptom concepts. More research is needed to identify symptoms of COVID-19 that matter most to patients.