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Real-World Evidence: The Low Validity of Temperature Screening for COVID-19 Triage

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic forced health-related organizations to rapidly launch country-wide procedures that were easy to use and inexpensive. Body temperature measurement with non-contact infrared thermometers (NCITs) is among the most common procedures, both in hospital settings and in man...

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Autores principales: Pană, Bogdan C., Lopes, Henrique, Furtunescu, Florentina, Franco, Diogo, Rapcea, Anca, Stanca, Mihai, Tănase, Alina, Coliţă, Anca
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8277959/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34277541
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2021.672698
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author Pană, Bogdan C.
Lopes, Henrique
Furtunescu, Florentina
Franco, Diogo
Rapcea, Anca
Stanca, Mihai
Tănase, Alina
Coliţă, Anca
author_facet Pană, Bogdan C.
Lopes, Henrique
Furtunescu, Florentina
Franco, Diogo
Rapcea, Anca
Stanca, Mihai
Tănase, Alina
Coliţă, Anca
author_sort Pană, Bogdan C.
collection PubMed
description Background: The COVID-19 pandemic forced health-related organizations to rapidly launch country-wide procedures that were easy to use and inexpensive. Body temperature measurement with non-contact infrared thermometers (NCITs) is among the most common procedures, both in hospital settings and in many other entities. However, practical hospital experiences have raised great doubts about the procedure's validity. Aim: This study aimed to evaluate the validity of the body temperature measured using NCITs among oncological and transplant patients who took the polymerase chain reaction test for SARS-Cov-2 PCR+ and PCR- in a Romanian Hospital. Methods: Body temperature was measured for 5,231 inpatients using NCITs. The cutoff point for fever was equal to or above 37.3°C. Patients then completed a questionnaire about their symptoms, contact, and travel history. Findings: Fever was detected in five of 53 persons with PCR+, resulting in a sensitivity of 9.43% (95% CI, 3.13–20.66%). No fever was verified in 5,131 of 5,171 persons with PCR-, resulting in a specificity of 99.15% (95% CI, 98.86–99.38%). A defensive vision of NCIT procedure (maximum standard error only in favor) had a sensitivity of 15.09% (95% CI, 6.75–27.59%). Conclusions: The use of NCITs in a triage provides little value for detection of COVID-19. Moreover, it provides a false sense of protection against the disease while possibly discriminating individuals that could present fever due to other reasons, such as oncologic treatments, where fever is a common therapeutical consequence. The consumption of qualified human resources should be considered, especially in the context of the shortage of healthcare professionals worldwide.
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spelling pubmed-82779592021-07-15 Real-World Evidence: The Low Validity of Temperature Screening for COVID-19 Triage Pană, Bogdan C. Lopes, Henrique Furtunescu, Florentina Franco, Diogo Rapcea, Anca Stanca, Mihai Tănase, Alina Coliţă, Anca Front Public Health Public Health Background: The COVID-19 pandemic forced health-related organizations to rapidly launch country-wide procedures that were easy to use and inexpensive. Body temperature measurement with non-contact infrared thermometers (NCITs) is among the most common procedures, both in hospital settings and in many other entities. However, practical hospital experiences have raised great doubts about the procedure's validity. Aim: This study aimed to evaluate the validity of the body temperature measured using NCITs among oncological and transplant patients who took the polymerase chain reaction test for SARS-Cov-2 PCR+ and PCR- in a Romanian Hospital. Methods: Body temperature was measured for 5,231 inpatients using NCITs. The cutoff point for fever was equal to or above 37.3°C. Patients then completed a questionnaire about their symptoms, contact, and travel history. Findings: Fever was detected in five of 53 persons with PCR+, resulting in a sensitivity of 9.43% (95% CI, 3.13–20.66%). No fever was verified in 5,131 of 5,171 persons with PCR-, resulting in a specificity of 99.15% (95% CI, 98.86–99.38%). A defensive vision of NCIT procedure (maximum standard error only in favor) had a sensitivity of 15.09% (95% CI, 6.75–27.59%). Conclusions: The use of NCITs in a triage provides little value for detection of COVID-19. Moreover, it provides a false sense of protection against the disease while possibly discriminating individuals that could present fever due to other reasons, such as oncologic treatments, where fever is a common therapeutical consequence. The consumption of qualified human resources should be considered, especially in the context of the shortage of healthcare professionals worldwide. Frontiers Media S.A. 2021-06-30 /pmc/articles/PMC8277959/ /pubmed/34277541 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2021.672698 Text en Copyright © 2021 Pană, Lopes, Furtunescu, Franco, Rapcea, Stanca, Tănase and Coliţă. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Public Health
Pană, Bogdan C.
Lopes, Henrique
Furtunescu, Florentina
Franco, Diogo
Rapcea, Anca
Stanca, Mihai
Tănase, Alina
Coliţă, Anca
Real-World Evidence: The Low Validity of Temperature Screening for COVID-19 Triage
title Real-World Evidence: The Low Validity of Temperature Screening for COVID-19 Triage
title_full Real-World Evidence: The Low Validity of Temperature Screening for COVID-19 Triage
title_fullStr Real-World Evidence: The Low Validity of Temperature Screening for COVID-19 Triage
title_full_unstemmed Real-World Evidence: The Low Validity of Temperature Screening for COVID-19 Triage
title_short Real-World Evidence: The Low Validity of Temperature Screening for COVID-19 Triage
title_sort real-world evidence: the low validity of temperature screening for covid-19 triage
topic Public Health
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8277959/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34277541
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2021.672698
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