Statistical methods
A descriptive analysis of the study variables was performed, to identify
patients’ personal and clinical characteristics, and their responses to
the questionnaire. The qualitative variables are described using
absolute frequencies and percentages. Quantitative variables are resumed
through their media, median, first and third quartile, and typical
deviation.
To compare patients’ responses to the questionnaire according to
compatible symptoms of COVID-19 or a positive test result, contingency
tables were built with the variables. The association between the
qualitative values was evaluated throughout Fisher´s exact test (with
Montecarlo simulation of p-value in case of qualitative variables with
more than two categories). The comparison of the quantitative variables
was done using Mann-Whitney U test. Normalcy between the variables were
contrasted using Shapiro-Wilk test. It is considered of significant
relevance between variables, a signification level of 0.05. The analysis
were performed using R statistic software. (Version 4.0.0).