Background: Young adults may constitute a significant proportion of COVID-19 cases but generally experience a milder disease course. The goal of our study was to characterize symptoms of disease in a cohort of generally healthy young adults and to examine possible gender-associated disparities in their clinical manifestations. Methods The study was designed as a retrospective survey study. The study questionnaire was sent to all post-COVID-19 IDF service members between 30 June 2020 and 30 September 2020. Univariate and multivariable analysis adjusting for differences in baseline characteristics were employed in the statistical analysis. Results A total of 3247 questionnaires were sent. After removing duplicate submissions, a total of 792 questionnaires were included in the analysis. The average male age was 24.2 years old, and average female age was 21 years old. More than 99% of participants spent their recovery period from COVID-19 at home or in a dedicated IDF led COVID-19 Centre. Only 3 participants were hospitalized. Approximately 97% of participants reported at least one COVID-19 symptom, only 45.8% reported fever above 38.0ºC. Female participants reported significantly more symptoms of weakness, joint or muscle pain, rhinorrhea, dyspnea, sore throat, abdominal pain, nausea and vomiting and dysgeusia. Most of these differences were maintained in the multivariable analysis. Female participants also reported increased use of medications, particularly antipyretics. Conclusions Our findings show a high percentage of symptomatic infection with COVID-19 and suggest young generally healthy female patients experience symptoms of increased severity and duration compared to males.
Gender Disparities in self-reported COVID-19 symptoms in young adults