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Accuracy of Emergency Department clinical findings for diagnostic of coronavirus disease-2019

Authors :
Sami Ellouze
Khalil Khenissi
Marion Giroud
Carl Ogereau
Pierre Taboulet
Arben Elezi
Vy Truong
Carole Marbeuf-Gueye
Olivier Peyrony
Clémentine Rivière
Léa Legay
Alessandra Principe
Mathieu Tourdjman
Marie Simonetta
Jean-Paul Fontaine
Source :
Annals of Emergency Medicine
Publication Year :
2020
Publisher :
by the American College of Emergency Physicians., 2020.

Abstract

Study objective We seek to describe the medical history and clinical findings of patients attending the emergency department (ED) with suspected coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and estimate the diagnostic accuracy of patients' characteristics for predicting COVID-19. Methods We prospectively enrolled all patients tested for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 by reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction in our ED from March 9, 2020, to April 4, 2020. We abstracted medical history, physical examination findings, and the clinical probability of COVID-19 (low, moderate, and high) rated by emergency physicians, depending on their clinical judgment. We assessed diagnostic accuracy of these characteristics for COVID-19 by calculating positive and negative likelihood ratios. Results We included 391 patients, of whom 225 had positive test results for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2. Reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction result was more likely to be negative when the emergency physician thought that clinical probability was low, and more likely to be positive when he or she thought that it was high. Patient-reported anosmia and the presence of bilateral B lines on lung ultrasonography had the highest positive likelihood ratio for the diagnosis of COVID-19 (7.58, 95% confidence interval [CI] 2.36 to 24.36; and 7.09, 95% CI 2.77 to 18.12, respectively). The absence of a high clinical probability determined by the emergency physician and the absence of bilateral B lines on lung ultrasonography had the lowest negative likelihood ratio for the diagnosis of COVID-19 (0.33, 95% CI 0.25 to 0.43; and 0.26, 95% CI 0.15 to 0.45, respectively). Conclusion Anosmia, emergency physician estimate of high clinical probability, and bilateral B lines on lung ultrasonography increased the likelihood of identifying COVID-19 in patients presenting to the ED.

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
10976760 and 01960644
Database :
OpenAIRE
Journal :
Annals of Emergency Medicine
Accession number :
edsair.doi.dedup.....0d9126df9c1309e3c116ae92bb529ed3