Estimating the efficacy of symptom-based screening for COVID-19

There is substantial interest in using presenting symptoms to prioritize testing for COVID-19 and establish symptom-based surveillance. However, little is currently known about the specificity of COVID-19 symptoms. To assess the feasibility of symptom-based screening for COVID-19, we used data from...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:NPJ digital medicine 2020-07, Vol.3 (1), p.95-95, Article 95
Main Authors: Callahan, Alison, Steinberg, Ethan, Fries, Jason A., Gombar, Saurabh, Patel, Birju, Corbin, Conor K., Shah, Nigam H.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
692/308/174
692/699/255/2514
Biomedicine
Biotechnology
Brief Communication
Coronaviruses
COVID-19
Digital technology
Health informatics
Medical diagnosis
Medicine
Medicine & Public Health
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2
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Summary:There is substantial interest in using presenting symptoms to prioritize testing for COVID-19 and establish symptom-based surveillance. However, little is currently known about the specificity of COVID-19 symptoms. To assess the feasibility of symptom-based screening for COVID-19, we used data from tests for common respiratory viruses and SARS-CoV-2 in our health system to measure the ability to correctly classify virus test results based on presenting symptoms. Based on these results, symptom-based screening may not be an effective strategy to identify individuals who should be tested for SARS-CoV-2 infection or to obtain a leading indicator of new COVID-19 cases.
ISSN:2398-6352
2398-6352
DOI:10.1038/s41746-020-0300-0