Evaluation of Admission Chest X-Ray Findings in Patients With Respiratory Infection During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Dimitrios Velissaris; Maria Lagadinou; Themistoklis Paraskevas; Eleousa Oikonomou; Vasileios Karamouzos; Fotios Sampsonas; Markos Marangos; Menelaos Karanikolas

doi:10.7759/cureus.18114

Evaluation of Admission Chest X-Ray Findings in Patients With Respiratory Infection During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Cureus. 2021 Sep 20;13(9):e18114. doi: 10.7759/cureus.18114. eCollection 2021 Sep.

Authors

Dimitrios Velissaris¹, Maria Lagadinou¹, Themistoklis Paraskevas¹, Eleousa Oikonomou¹, Vasileios Karamouzos², Fotios Sampsonas³, Markos Marangos¹, Menelaos Karanikolas⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Internal Medicine, University Hospital of Patras, Patras, GRC.
² Intensive Care Unit, University Hospital of Patras, Patras, GRC.
³ Department of Respiratory Medicine, University Hospital of Patras, Patras, GRC.
⁴ Department of Anaesthesiology, Washington University School of Medicine, Saint Louis, USA.

Abstract

Aims: To evaluate the prevalence of X-ray findings in hospitalized patients requiring hospitalization with suspected Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infection and potential differences in the laboratory values and clinical outcomes related to the presence of abnormal chest X-ray (CXR) findings.

Methods: A total of 117 patients suspected of COVID-19 pneumonia and hospitalized with symptoms of lower respiratory tract disease were included in this study. Patients were divided into subgroups according to COVID-19 diagnosis and statistical comparisons were made according to CXR findings.

Results: In our cohort, CXR abnormalities were more common in patients with confirmed COVID-19 diagnosis and were associated with increased mortality. Patients with abnormal chest X-rays had a significantly lower PaO₂/FiO₂ ratio both in the COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 groups.

Conclusion: CXR is a routine examination in all patients with symptoms of lower respiratory tract disease and its findings relate to in-hospital mortality and PaO₂/FiO₂ ratio. Thus, it can be a significant measure of disease severity, especially in resource restrained settings and emergency situations such as the COVID-19 pandemic.

Keywords: chest x-ray (cx-ray); covid-19; emergency medicine; pneumonia; thoracic radiography.