Abstract
Background: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic remains a global healthcare crisis. Nevertheless, the majority of COVID-19 cases involve mild to moderate symptoms in the early stages. The lack of information relating to these cases necessitates further investigation.Methods: Patients visiting the outpatient clinic at the Kamagaya General Hospital were screened by interview and body temperature check. After initial screening, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection was suspected in 481 patients who then underwent blood tests and the loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) test for SARS-CoV-2. Clinical characteristics between positive and negative SARS-CoV-2 groups were compared. Further, the novel predictive value of routine blood test results for SARS-CoV-2 infection was evaluated using ROC analysis.Results: A total of 15,560 patients visited our hospital during the study period. After exclusion and initial screening by interview, 481 patients underwent the LAMP test and routine blood tests. Of these patients, 69 (14.3%) were positive for SARS-CoV-2 and diagnosed with COVID-19 (positive group), and 412 (85.7%) were negative (negative group). The median period between the first onset of symptoms and visit to our hospital was 3.4 and 2.9 days in the negative and positive groups, respectively. Cough (p = 0.014), rhinorrhea (p = 0.039), and taste disorders (p < 0.001) were significantly more common in the positive group, while gastrointestinal symptoms in the negative group (p = 0.043). The white blood cell count (p < 0.001), neutrophil count (p < 0.001), and percentage of neutrophils (p < 0.001) were higher in the negative group. The percentage of monocytes (p < 0.001) and the levels of ferritin (p < 0.001) were higher in the positive group. As per the predictive values for COVID-19 using blood tests, the values for the area under the curve for the neutrophil-to-monocyte ratio (NMR), white blood cell-to-hemoglobin ratio (WHR), and the product of the two (NMWH) were 0.857, 0.837, and 0.887, respectively.Conclusion: Symptoms in early stage COVID-19 patients were similar to those in previous reports. Some blood test results were not consistent with previous reports. NMR, WHR, and NMWH are novel diagnostic scores in early-stage mild-symptom COVID-19 patients in primary care settings.
Highlights
In December 2019, the novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID19), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), was reported in Wuhan, China [1]
Despite the presence of extensive data concerning COVID19 in hospitalized patients and those admitted to emergency departments [4,5,6], there is a paucity of information focusing on COVID-19 patients with mild symptoms in outpatient clinics
We aimed to report on the clinical features of early stage COVID-19 and to establish simple diagnostic values using routine blood tests to improve point-of-care diagnosis and treatment of COVID-19 in a primary care setting
Summary
In December 2019, the novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID19), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), was reported in Wuhan, China [1]. Many detection tests cannot be performed, and the results cannot be obtained immediately [10,11,12]. In such situations, it is useful to identify patients highly suspected of having COVID-19 from those who visit primary care clinics. We aimed to report on the clinical features of early stage COVID-19 and to establish simple diagnostic values using routine blood tests to improve point-of-care diagnosis and treatment of COVID-19 in a primary care setting. The majority of COVID-19 cases involve mild to moderate symptoms in the early stages. The lack of information relating to these cases necessitates further investigation
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