Race and Sex Differences in Vital Signs Associated with COVID-19 and Flu Diagnoses in Mississippi

Early detection of viral infections, such as COVID-19 and flu, have potential to reduce risk of morbidity, mortality, and disease transmission through earlier intervention strategies. For example, detecting changes in vital signs have the potential to more rapidly diagnose respiratory virus diseases. The objective of this study was to utilize the University of Mississippi Medical Center's extensive clinical database (EPIC) to investigate associations between temperature, pulse rate, blood pressure (BP), and respiration rate in COVID-19 and flu diagnosed patients. Data from 1,363 COVID-19 (March 3, 2020, to February 27, 2021) and 507 flu (October 1, 2017, to September 30, 2018) diagnosed patients with reported demographic dimensions (age, first race, and sex) and office visit dimensions (BMI, diastolic BP, pulse rate, respiration rate, systolic BP, and temperature) was obtained, including day of diagnosis and additional encounter visits 60 days before and after first unique diagnosis. Patients with COVID-19 or flu were disproportionately obese, with 93% of COVID-19 and 79% of flu patients with BMI ≥ 30. Most striking, Black women 50-64 years of age disproportionately carried the burden of disease. At the time of diagnosis, temperature was significantly increased for all patients, yet pulse rate was only significantly increased for flu diagnosis, and BP was not significantly different in either. Our findings show the need for more complete demographic and office visit dimension data from patients during epidemic and pandemic events and support further studies needed to understand association between vital signs and predicting respiratory disease.