October 21, 2020

Characteristics and Outcomes of Clinically Diagnosed RT-PCR Swab Negative COVID-19 a Retrospective Cohort Study

Category: Article Summary

Topic: Testing and Treatment

Keywords (Tags): health care setting

[Pre-print, not peer-reviewed] Among 456 patients with clinical suspicion of COVID-19 and an initial negative PCR result for SARS-COV-2 by nasopharyngeal swab (March 1 to April 12, 2020), 94 (20%) were later confirmed as clinical COVID-19 cases. Among these, 47 (50%) tested positive with repeat PCR testing and 41 (44%) continued to have negative PCR results but were diagnosed from clinical documentation, discharge summary, or death certificate. These results are based on a review of medical admissions records at Imperial College Healthcare Trust in London, UK. The authors suggest health systems should recognize and plan for the management of swab-negative patients in their COVID-19 clinical management, infection control policies, and epidemiological assessments.

Middleton et al. (Oct 21, 2020). Characteristics and Outcomes of Clinically Diagnosed RT-PCR Swab Negative COVID-19 a Retrospective Cohort Study. Pre-print downloaded Oct 21 from https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.10.20.20204651