Differential Pattern of Symptom Correlation With Acute Respiratory Infections in Korea

Background: Acute respiratory infections (ARIs) pose global health challenges, with major outbreaks affecting healthcare systems and resulting in significant morbidity and mortality. We aimed to identify distinctive signs or symptoms correlated with ARIs for utilizing syndromic surveillance. Methods: We used data from national Korean databases to examine correlations between various symptoms and the reported ARI viruses in children aged under and over 5 years. Results: In children under 5 years old, respiratory symptoms were strongly correlated with human adenovirus, human respiratory syncytial virus, and human rhinovirus. Patients aged over 5 years displayed more diverse patterns, with varied correlations. The cases of fever were a strong indicator of respiratory viruses (human adenovirus, human parainfluenza viruses, and human rhinovirus) in children under 5 years old, while those over 5 years showed symptoms such as smell and taste disturbances. Conclusions: These findings emphasize the correlation between various symptoms and ARIs across different age groups and may help to improve syndromic surveillance systems.