Laboratory markers included in the Corona Score can identify false negative results on COVID-19 RT-PCR in the emergency room

Biochem Med (Zagreb). 2020 Oct 15;30(3):030402. doi: 10.11613/BM.2020.030402. Epub 2020 Aug 5.

Abstract

After December 2019 outbreak in China, the novel Coronavirus infection (COVID-19) has very quickly overflowed worldwide. Infection causes a clinical syndrome encompassing a wide range of clinical features, from asymptomatic or oligosymptomatic course to acute respiratory distress and death. In a very recent work we preliminarily observed that several laboratory tests have been shown as characteristically altered in COVID-19. We aimed to use the Corona score, a validated point-based algorithm to predict the likelihood of COVID-19 infection in patients presenting at the Emergency rooms. This approach combines chest images-relative score and several laboratory parameters to classify emergency room patients. Corona score accuracy was satisfactory, increasing the detection of positive patients' rate.

Keywords: COVID-19; Corona score; Emergency room; RT-PCR; laboratory markers.

MeSH terms

  • Betacoronavirus / isolation & purification*
  • Biomarkers / metabolism
  • COVID-19
  • COVID-19 Testing
  • Clinical Laboratory Techniques*
  • Cohort Studies
  • Coronavirus Infections / diagnosis*
  • Coronavirus Infections / diagnostic imaging
  • Coronavirus Infections / metabolism
  • Emergency Service, Hospital* / standards
  • False Negative Reactions
  • Humans
  • Negative Results
  • Pandemics
  • Pneumonia, Viral / diagnosis*
  • Pneumonia, Viral / diagnostic imaging
  • Pneumonia, Viral / metabolism
  • Reproducibility of Results
  • Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction / methods*
  • Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction / standards
  • SARS-CoV-2
  • Tomography, X-Ray Computed / methods
  • Tomography, X-Ray Computed / standards

Substances

  • Biomarkers