Validity of Clinical Symptoms Score to Discriminate Patients with COVID-19 from Common Cold Out-Patients in General Practitioner Clinics in Japan

Objective: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has spread worldwide, including Japan. However, little is known about the clinical symptoms which discriminate between COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 among outpatients in general practitioner clinics, which is important for efficient case detection. The aim of this study was to investigate the clinical symptoms to discriminate between COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 cases among outpatients in general practitioner clinics during the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Japan in August 2020. Methods: The records of 360 patients who visited a clinic with suspicion of infectious disease and underwent COVID-19 PCR test between 1 and 14 August 2020 were used. The patients filled out a questionnaire on possible clinical symptoms and transmission routes. Multivariate logistic regression was used to investigate the association between clinical symptoms and COVID-19 status. Results: COVID-19-positive patients were 17 (4.7%). Multiple logistic regression analyses showed that anosmia (odds ratio (OR), 25.94 95% confidence interval (CI), 7.15–94.14; p < 0.001), headache (OR, 3.31 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.98–11.20; p = 0.054), sputum production (OR, 3.32 CI, 1.01–10.90; p = 0.048) and history of visiting an izakaya or bar (OR, 4.23 CI, 0.99–18.03; p = 0.051) were marginally significantly associated withbeing COVID-19 positive. This model showed moderate predictive power (area under receiver operating characteristic curve = 0.870 CI, 0.761 to 0.971). Conclusions: We found that anosmia, headache, sputum production, history of visiting an izakaya or bar were associated with COVID-19, which can be used to detect patients with COVID-19 in out-patient clinics in Japan. The findings of this study need to be verified in other clinics and hospitals in Japan and other countries with universal healthcare coverages.