Clinical Characteristics of Patients Returning to Emergency Department With Initial False-Negative Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR)-Based COVID-19 Test.
Year: 2022
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: Background: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak is an international public health emergency. Early identification of COVID-19 patients with false-negative RT-PCR tests is paramount in the ED to prevent both nosocomial and community transmission. This study aimed to compare clinical characteristics of repeat emergency department (ED) visits among coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients with initial false-negative reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR)-based COVID-19 test. Methods: This is a retrospective, multi-center, cohort study conducted at 12 hospitals affiliated with Baylor Scott & White Health system. Patients visiting the EDs of these hospitals between June and August 2020 were screened. Patients tested negative for viral RNA by quantitative RT-PCR in the first ED visit and positive in the second ED visit were included. The primary outcome was the comparison of clinical characteristics between two consecutive ED visits including the clinical symptoms, triage vital signs, laboratory, and chest X-ray (CXR) results. Results: < 0.001) in the second ED visit. Conclusions: Early COVID-19 testing (less than 3 days of symptom duration) could be associated with a false-negative result. In this window period, lymphocytopenia, fever, nausea, and dyspnea are the most common early signs that can potentially be clinical hints for COVID-19 diagnosis.
Source: PubMed
Authors: Eric H Chou, Jack Healy, Ching-Fang Tiffany Tzeng, Alec Jessen, Matthew Hall, Chinmay Patel, Chih-Hung Wang, Tsung-Chien Lu, Toral Bhakta, John Garrett
Language: English
Subfield: Infectious Diseases
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W4281706493