Postgrad Med. 2021 Dec 20. doi: 10.1080/00325481.2021.2021741. Online ahead of print.
ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION: Ground-glass opacity is commonly seen on radiographic imaging tests of patients admitted for COVID-19. The main objective of this study is to determine if the presence of ground-glass opacity on chest X-rays carried out at the Emergency Department correlates with significantly higher mortality. A secondary objective is to clarify which characteristics are associated with those patients who presented ground-glass opacity.
METHODS: : Data were obtained from our 2020 hospital admissions records. Consequently, this is a retrospective cohort study. Our cohort consists of 300 admissions from a group of elderly with a mean age of 81.6. There were 49.3% women (148/300) and 50.7% men (152/300).
RESULTS: The presence of ground-glass opacity on chest X-rays is a risk factor for in-hospital mortality (RR = 1.6), heart failure (RR = 4.3), respiratory failure (RR = 1.5), acute kidney injury (RR = 1.3) and ICU admission (RR = 2.7).
CONCLUSION: Based on these results, the variable "finding ground-glass opacity on chest X-rays carried out at the Emergency Department" should be assessed for inclusion in the different calculators that estimate the prognosis/mortality rate of patients admitted for COVID-19.
PMID:34930067 | DOI:10.1080/00325481.2021.2021741