Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Jan;11(1):305-311.
doi: 10.4103/jfmpc.jfmpc_1544_21. Epub 2022 Jan 31.

Predictors of COVID-19 positivity among patients presenting to screening clinic in a dedicated COVID-19 hospital, in chandigarh, India - A cross-sectional study

Jenefa Persis  1 , Tanvi Kiran  1 , Kapil Goel  1 , Kirtan Rana  1 , Ritin Mohindra  2 , Bijaya Kumar Padhi  1
Affiliations

Predictors of COVID-19 positivity among patients presenting to screening clinic in a dedicated COVID-19 hospital, in chandigarh, India - A cross-sectional study

Jenefa Persis et al. J Family Med Prim Care. 2022 Jan.

Abstract

Background: The aim of this study was to analyze the clinical features of patients attending the screening clinic of a dedicated COVID-19 hospital (DCH), including COVID-19 RT-PCR test positivity rate, symptom predictors for COVID-19 positivity, the proportion of recovery, and the mortality among COVID-19 positive cases.

Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study of the patients who reported in the screening clinic of a DCH. Data were retrieved from medical records. Step-wise binary logistic regression was applied to determine the symptom predictors for determining the likelihood of the suspects turning out to be COVID-19 positive.

Results: A total of 573 patients reported to the screening clinic were enrolled, and their median age was 36 ± 14 years. Of the total patients, 237 (41%) were females and 112 (20%) patients were COVID-19 suspects. Fifty (45%) suspects tested COVID-19 positive. The majority of the positives had complaints of cough, fever, and sore throat. Running nose (OR = 7.951) and history of contact with a COVID-19-positive case (OR = 169.9) were found to be statistically significant symptom predictors for COVID-19 positivity. All patients recovered with nil case fatality.

Conclusion: Running nose and history of contact with COVID-positive patients were significant predictors for COVID-19 positivity. In this pandemic state, patients who present with any of the upper respiratory infection (URI) symptoms such as cough, sore throat, running nose, headache, and loss of taste/smell should be tested for COVID-19 for early identification and isolation to break the chain of transmission. The public should be encouraged to undergo COVID-19 testing if they develop any of the URI symptoms.

Keywords: COVID-19; Case positivity rate; predictors; severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2; symptoms.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

There are no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Flowchart demonstrating the proportion of COVID-19 suspects and COVID-19-positive cases among the patients who reported to the screening clinic in the dedicated COVID-19 hospital in Chandigarh, 2020
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

References

    1. Shereen MA, Khan S, Kazmi A, Bashir N, Siddique R. COVID-19 infection:Origin, transmission, and characteristics of human coronaviruses. J Adv Res. 2020;24:91–8. - PMC - PubMed
    1. World Health Organization (WHO) Timeline of WHO's response to COVID-19. 2020. [Last accessed on 2021 Jul 15]. Available from: https://www.who.int/news/item/29-06-2020-covidtimeline .
    1. WHO Director-General. Media briefing on COVID-19. World Health Organization; [Last accessed on 2021 Jun 05]. Available from: https://www.who.int/director-general/speeches/detail/who-director-genera... .
    1. GardaWorld. India:First confirmed case of 2019-nCoV announced January 30. [Last accessed on 2020 Aug 28]. Available from: https://www.garda.com/crisis24/news-alerts/309806/india-first-confirmed-... .
    1. World Health Organization (WHO). Coronavirus disease (COVID-19). 2020. [Last accessed on 2020 Aug 28]. Available from: https://www.who.int/health-topics/coronavirus#tab=tab_1 .