TITLE:
Predictive Score for Pulmonary Ultrasound and Factors Associated to Mortality and Hospitalization during the Covid-19 Pandemic
AUTHORS:
Leandro Seoane, Adrian Ruggiero, Anabela Martinelli, Cristian Noriega, Martin Diana Menendez, Marcelo Rodriguez, Natalia Cano, Lourdes Posadas
KEYWORDS:
Pulmonary Ultrasound, COVID-19, Pulmonary Ultrasound Score, Emergency Physicians, Viral Pneumonia
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Emergency Medicine,
Vol.10 No.4,
December
30,
2022
ABSTRACT: Pulmonary ultrasound is a non-invasive bedside resource that has showed
to be useful for the assessment of patients presenting with respiratory
insufficiency as well as the diagnosis of several pleural and other pulmonary
pathologies. The pulmonary ultrasound score (LUS) is a semi quantitative scale
that measures the loss of pulmonary aeration cause by many pathologic
conditions. Our primary objective was to describe factors associated to death
and hospitalization in patients aged 16 or
older that were admitted to the emergency department (ED) with signs or
symptoms of COVID-19 infection through the diagnosis of viral pneumonia with
pulmonary ultrasound (PU). It was a cohort retrospective study through a
one-year period. Emergency physicians performed lung ultrasounds and calculated
LUS. Results: 672 patients suspected of COVID-19 infection with a PU finding of
viral pneumonia were included. 495 patients had a positive COVID-19 PCR test,
73.6% of the population. 258 patients presented with high probability of
COVID-19 pneumonia following the patterns in PU. 55% were male with a median
age of 45 years old. The average LUS score at admission was 8. Global
hospitalization rate was 51.5%, 7.5% were admitted to the ICU. Patients with a
LUS > 10 had a mortality of 6%, and patients admitted to the ICU had a 50%
mortality rate. They presented with an average LUS score at admission of 15.2. Conclusions:
LUS was a good predictor of death, hospitalization to general ward or ICU of
patients with COVID-19 admitted from the emergency department.