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Acute Clinical Syndromes and Suspicion of SARS-CoV-2 Infection: The Experience of a Single Romanian Center in the Early Pandemic Period

Background and Objectives: During the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, patients with chronic diseases suffering exacerbations have required acute medical care. The purpose of our study was to determine useful criteria for the differentiation of patients with acute clinical syndromes and...

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Autores principales: Haliga, Raluca Ecaterina, Sorodoc, Victorita, Lionte, Catalina, Petris, Ovidiu Rusalim, Bologa, Cristina, Coman, Adorata Elena, Vata, Luminita Gina, Puha, Gabriela, Dumitrescu, Gabriela, Sirbu, Oana, Stoica, Alexandra, Ceasovschih, Alexandr, Constantin, Mihai, Nicoleta Catana, Andreea, Jaba, Elisabeta, Sorodoc, Laurentiu
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7911742/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33572732
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/medicina57020121
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author Haliga, Raluca Ecaterina
Sorodoc, Victorita
Lionte, Catalina
Petris, Ovidiu Rusalim
Bologa, Cristina
Coman, Adorata Elena
Vata, Luminita Gina
Puha, Gabriela
Dumitrescu, Gabriela
Sirbu, Oana
Stoica, Alexandra
Ceasovschih, Alexandr
Constantin, Mihai
Nicoleta Catana, Andreea
Jaba, Elisabeta
Sorodoc, Laurentiu
author_facet Haliga, Raluca Ecaterina
Sorodoc, Victorita
Lionte, Catalina
Petris, Ovidiu Rusalim
Bologa, Cristina
Coman, Adorata Elena
Vata, Luminita Gina
Puha, Gabriela
Dumitrescu, Gabriela
Sirbu, Oana
Stoica, Alexandra
Ceasovschih, Alexandr
Constantin, Mihai
Nicoleta Catana, Andreea
Jaba, Elisabeta
Sorodoc, Laurentiu
author_sort Haliga, Raluca Ecaterina
collection PubMed
description Background and Objectives: During the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, patients with chronic diseases suffering exacerbations have required acute medical care. The purpose of our study was to determine useful criteria for the differentiation of patients with acute clinical syndromes and suspicion of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection. Materials and Methods: This was an observational retrospective study, conducted in an internal medicine clinic from April to May 2020. We collected clinical, biological, and computed tomography (CT) data on patients with exacerbations of chronic diseases and clinical suspicion of SARS-CoV-2 infection. Patients with an already-positive real-time reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test for SARS-CoV-2 on presentation at the emergency department were excluded from our study. Results: Of 253 suspected cases, 20 were laboratory-confirmed as having SARS-CoV-2 infection by RT-PCR, whereas COVID-19 diagnosis was ruled out in the remaining 233. Venous thromboembolism (VTE) correlated significantly with COVID-19 diagnosis in suspected patients, while laboratory markers were not significantly different between the two groups. Of the suspected patients, significantly higher percentages of dry cough, fever, myalgias, sore throat, loss of smell and appetite, and ground-glass opacities (GGOs) on CT were found in SARS-CoV-2-positive individuals. Conclusions: The study demonstrated that, until receiving the result of an RT-PCR test for SARS-CoV-2 (usually 12–24 h), association with VTE as a comorbidity, fever, dry cough, and myalgia as clinical features, and GGO on CT are the main markers for the identification of COVID-19 patients among those suspected with acute clinical syndromes. Our results also provide evidence for doctors not to rely solely on biological markers in the case of suspected SARS-CoV-2 infection in patients with exacerbations of chronic diseases. These data are useful for faster decision-making with regard to suspected COVID-19 patients before receiving RT-PCR test results, thus avoiding keeping patients in crowded emergency departments.
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spelling pubmed-79117422021-02-28 Acute Clinical Syndromes and Suspicion of SARS-CoV-2 Infection: The Experience of a Single Romanian Center in the Early Pandemic Period Haliga, Raluca Ecaterina Sorodoc, Victorita Lionte, Catalina Petris, Ovidiu Rusalim Bologa, Cristina Coman, Adorata Elena Vata, Luminita Gina Puha, Gabriela Dumitrescu, Gabriela Sirbu, Oana Stoica, Alexandra Ceasovschih, Alexandr Constantin, Mihai Nicoleta Catana, Andreea Jaba, Elisabeta Sorodoc, Laurentiu Medicina (Kaunas) Article Background and Objectives: During the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, patients with chronic diseases suffering exacerbations have required acute medical care. The purpose of our study was to determine useful criteria for the differentiation of patients with acute clinical syndromes and suspicion of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection. Materials and Methods: This was an observational retrospective study, conducted in an internal medicine clinic from April to May 2020. We collected clinical, biological, and computed tomography (CT) data on patients with exacerbations of chronic diseases and clinical suspicion of SARS-CoV-2 infection. Patients with an already-positive real-time reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test for SARS-CoV-2 on presentation at the emergency department were excluded from our study. Results: Of 253 suspected cases, 20 were laboratory-confirmed as having SARS-CoV-2 infection by RT-PCR, whereas COVID-19 diagnosis was ruled out in the remaining 233. Venous thromboembolism (VTE) correlated significantly with COVID-19 diagnosis in suspected patients, while laboratory markers were not significantly different between the two groups. Of the suspected patients, significantly higher percentages of dry cough, fever, myalgias, sore throat, loss of smell and appetite, and ground-glass opacities (GGOs) on CT were found in SARS-CoV-2-positive individuals. Conclusions: The study demonstrated that, until receiving the result of an RT-PCR test for SARS-CoV-2 (usually 12–24 h), association with VTE as a comorbidity, fever, dry cough, and myalgia as clinical features, and GGO on CT are the main markers for the identification of COVID-19 patients among those suspected with acute clinical syndromes. Our results also provide evidence for doctors not to rely solely on biological markers in the case of suspected SARS-CoV-2 infection in patients with exacerbations of chronic diseases. These data are useful for faster decision-making with regard to suspected COVID-19 patients before receiving RT-PCR test results, thus avoiding keeping patients in crowded emergency departments. MDPI 2021-01-29 /pmc/articles/PMC7911742/ /pubmed/33572732 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/medicina57020121 Text en © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Haliga, Raluca Ecaterina
Sorodoc, Victorita
Lionte, Catalina
Petris, Ovidiu Rusalim
Bologa, Cristina
Coman, Adorata Elena
Vata, Luminita Gina
Puha, Gabriela
Dumitrescu, Gabriela
Sirbu, Oana
Stoica, Alexandra
Ceasovschih, Alexandr
Constantin, Mihai
Nicoleta Catana, Andreea
Jaba, Elisabeta
Sorodoc, Laurentiu
Acute Clinical Syndromes and Suspicion of SARS-CoV-2 Infection: The Experience of a Single Romanian Center in the Early Pandemic Period
title Acute Clinical Syndromes and Suspicion of SARS-CoV-2 Infection: The Experience of a Single Romanian Center in the Early Pandemic Period
title_full Acute Clinical Syndromes and Suspicion of SARS-CoV-2 Infection: The Experience of a Single Romanian Center in the Early Pandemic Period
title_fullStr Acute Clinical Syndromes and Suspicion of SARS-CoV-2 Infection: The Experience of a Single Romanian Center in the Early Pandemic Period
title_full_unstemmed Acute Clinical Syndromes and Suspicion of SARS-CoV-2 Infection: The Experience of a Single Romanian Center in the Early Pandemic Period
title_short Acute Clinical Syndromes and Suspicion of SARS-CoV-2 Infection: The Experience of a Single Romanian Center in the Early Pandemic Period
title_sort acute clinical syndromes and suspicion of sars-cov-2 infection: the experience of a single romanian center in the early pandemic period
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7911742/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33572732
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/medicina57020121
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