Symptom-Based Markers for COVID-19 Transmission

University of Iowa

Status: Invitation-only

Conditions: Covid19

Study type: Observational

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT04665245

202007450

Details and patient eligibility

About

In this study, COVID-19 positive patients will be added to a bidirectional texting program to receive daily surveys about their symptoms with the infection. This data will further the understanding of COVID-19 symptom development throughout the infection period, as well as how those symptoms vary at different points of the day. This study will be a single cohort, observational study of COVID-19 patients.

Full description

One important approach for decreasing COVID-19 transmission in healthcare settings is to prevent healthcare professionals from working while ill. Currently, facilities are asking screening questions and measuring temperatures to help identify symptomatic healthcare professionals and exclude them from providing patient care. Simulations can be used to inform the effectiveness of different screening approaches, but the results of these simulations depend upon the effectiveness of the intervention, e.g., the ability to identify healthcare professionals on their way to work, or to study the impact of healthcare professionals returning to work too early. Thus, simulations must necessarily depend upon realistic disease parameters: for example, it is suspected that a non-trivial proportion of patients with COVID-19 may be asymptomatic or have minimal symptoms, but the relative size of the asymptomatic subpopulation is unknown.

The plan for this study is to develop a method for granular measurement of twice-daily symptoms from healthcare professionals and other research subjects of similar ages. After being diagnosed, the goal is to determine what symptoms participants have and how long they have had them. This will be done using a previously-developed bidirectional texting platform to query participants about symptoms at least twice a day for ten days post diagnosis. Participants will be asked about subjective symptoms, including fevers, chills, cough, shortness of breath, fatigue, gastrointestinal symptoms, etc. They will also take their temperature twice daily during the recovery period, which will help determine the effectiveness of screening based on symptoms and/or thermometer readings.

Enrollment: 500 estimated patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18 to 100 years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Fluent in English
• Tested positive for COVID-19

Exclusion criteria

• Prisoners
• Unable to provide own informed consent

Trial design

500 participants in 1 patient group

COVID-19 Positive Patients

Description:

The study only includes one cohort: COVID-19 positive patients. Enrollees will not receive any therapeutic intervention; participants will simply report their temperature and any symptoms experienced twice per day for 10 days.