Acute respiratory infection symptoms and COVID-19 testing behaviour: results based on South Australian health surveys

S Joshi; K D'Onise; R Nolan; S Davis; K Glass; K Lokuge

doi:10.1186/s12889-021-12359-3

Acute respiratory infection symptoms and COVID-19 testing behaviour: results based on South Australian health surveys

BMC Public Health. 2021 Dec 20;21(1):2307. doi: 10.1186/s12889-021-12359-3.

Authors

S Joshi¹, K D'Onise², R Nolan², S Davis³, K Glass⁴, K Lokuge³

Affiliations

¹ Epidemiology Branch, Prevention and Population Health, Wellbeing SA, Government of South Australia, Level 9, The Conservatory, Rundle Mall, PO BOX 388, Adelaide, SA, 5000, Australia. suresh.joshi@sa.gov.au.
² Epidemiology Branch, Prevention and Population Health, Wellbeing SA, Government of South Australia, Level 9, The Conservatory, Rundle Mall, PO BOX 388, Adelaide, SA, 5000, Australia.
³ Humanitarian Health Research Initiative, Research School of Population Health, Australian National University, 62A Mills Road, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia.
⁴ National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health, Australian National University, 62A Mills Road, ACT 2601, Canberra, Australia.

Abstract

Background: Effective syndromic surveillance alongside COVID-19 testing behaviours in the population including in higher risk and hard to reach subgroups is vital to detect re-emergence of COVID-19 transmission in the community. The aim of this paper was to identify the prevalence of acute respiratory infection symptoms and coronavirus testing behaviour among South Australians using data from a population based survey.

Methods: We used cross-sectional data from the 2020 state-wide population level health survey on 6857 respondents aged 18 years and above. Descriptive statistics were used to explore the risk factors and multivariable logistic regression models were used to assess the factors associated with the acute respiratory infection symptoms and coronavirus testing behaviour after adjusting for gender, age, household size, household income, Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander status, SEIFA, Country of birth, number of chronic diseases, wellbeing, psychological distress, and mental health.

Results: We found that 19.3% of respondents reported having symptoms of acute respiratory infection and the most commonly reported symptoms were a runny nose (11.2%), coughing (9.9%) and sore throat (6.2%). Fever and cough were reported by 0.8% of participants. Of the symptomatic respondents, 32.6% reported seeking health advice from a nurse, doctor or healthcare provider. Around 18% (n = 130) of symptomatic respondents had sought testing and a further 4.3% (n = 31) reported they intended to get tested. The regression results suggest that older age, larger household size, a higher number of chronic disease, mental health condition, poor wellbeing, and psychological distress were associated with higher odds of ARI symptoms. Higher household income was associated with lower odds of being tested or intending to be tested for coronavirus after adjusting for other explanatory variables.

Conclusions: There were relatively high rates of self-reported acute respiratory infection during a period of very low COVID-19 prevalence and low rate of coronavirus testing among symptomatic respondents. Ongoing monitoring of testing uptake, including in higher-risk groups, and possible interventions to improve testing uptake is key to early detection of disease.

Keywords: ARI; COVID-19; Coronavirus testing; Population survey; Syndromic surveillance.

MeSH terms

Aged
Australia / epidemiology
COVID-19 Testing*
COVID-19*
Cross-Sectional Studies
Health Surveys
Humans
SARS-CoV-2
South Australia / epidemiology