Chest computed tomography and COVID-19 RT-PCR: The tale of two diagnostic tests in a resource-limited setting

• DOI: 10.5455/medscience.2022.05.127
• Publication Date: 2022-08-31T18:19:05Z
• Authors: Reyhan Ozturk; Gokhan Tazegul
• Keywords: Cohen's kappa; Kappa

Herein, we aimed to report the association between coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and computerized chest tomography (CT), along with hospitalization mortality in rural secondary care, resource-limited hospital setting, without capabilities conduct RT-PCR or CT results in-house. We included patients admitted COVID-19 outpatient clinic August 2020 January 2021. was standard for diagnosis. Chest scans were categorized into negative, suspicious, positive rather than using Reporting Data System (CO-RADS) system; pneumonia classified mild, moderate, severe, global involvement score (CTIS), as provided by outsourcing. Of 954 outpatients admitted, 382 (40%) positive, 472 (49.5%) had on CT. The sensitivity of positivity 62.04%, specificity 58.92%. Cohen’s kappa showed fair agreement (K=0.205, p=0.0001). Hospitalization death rates higher patient population (p=0.001 0.0001). In cases negative pneumonia, (p=0.025, chi-square test). a agreement, low. Death initial CTs patients, which underlines importance obtaining setting identify risk mortality.