Epistaxis as a marker for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 status – a prospective study

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the prevalence of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 infection in patients presenting with epistaxis to a tertiary otolaryngology unit. METHODS: A prospective study was conducted of 40 consecutive patients presenting with epistaxis referred to our tertiary otolaryngology unit. A group of 40 age-matched controls were also included. All patients underwent real-time reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction testing for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2. Symptoms of fever, cough and anosmia were noted in the study group. RESULTS: The mean age was 66.5 ± 22.4 years in the study group. There were 22 males (55 per cent) and 18 females (45 per cent). The mean age in the control group was 66.3 ± 22.4 years (p = 0.935). There were six positive cases for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (15 per cent) in the epistaxis group and one case (2.5 per cent) in the control group. The difference was statistically significant (p = 0.05). CONCLUSION: Epistaxis may represent a presenting symptom of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 infection. This may serve as a useful additional criterion for screening patients.