COVID-19 patients with increasing age experience differential time to initial medical care and severity of symptoms

We conducted a retrospective observational study in patients with laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 who received medical care in 688 COVID-19. Patients were categorized into 8 groups (<20, 20-29, 30-39, 40-49, 50-59, 60-69, 70-79, and 80 years). Symptoms at initial presentation were classified according to a previously validated classification into respiratory and non-respiratory symptoms. Comparisons between time from symptom onset to medical care for every age category were done through ANOVA. Logistic regression were applied to determine the risk of presenting symptoms of severity according to age. 286020 patients were included (mean age: 42.8, SD:16.8 years). Mean time from symptom onset to medical care was 4.04 (SD:3.6) days and increased with older age categories (p<0.0001). The risk of presenting with symptoms of severity was greater with increasing age categories (20-29: OR=1.65, 95%CI:1.59-1.71; 30-39: OR=1.96, 95%CI:1.89-2.03, 40-49: OR=2.05, 95%CI:1.98-1.2.16, 50-59: OR=2.05, 95%CI:1.98-2.16, 60-69: OR=2.35, 95%CI:2.26-2.45, 70-79: OR=2.82, 95%CI:2.67-2.97, and 80 years: OR=3.27, 95%CI:3.01-3.55).