Heliyon
Volume 9, Issue 4, April 2023, e15379
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Research article
Utility of RT-PCR versus electronic track and trace system for pre-procedural COVID-19 screening- a retrospective cohort study

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e15379Get rights and content
Under a Creative Commons license
open access

Highlights

  • The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in mandatory pre-procedural screening tests.

  • Mobile applications can be used to identify high-risk individuals who should be tested.

  • Our results show a positivity rate of less than 1% in asymptomatic patients.

  • We recommend not to apply universal COVID-19 screening tests.

  • We recommend to screen with COVID-19 symptoms pre-procedurally.

Abstract

Background and aims

COVID-19 has disrupted the patient workflow in all healthcare settings. Procedures such as bronchoscopy and spirometry require additional pre-procedure screening for SARS-CoV-2. However, there is uncertainty regarding the utility of this universal pre-procedure screening. The State of Qatar has a robust contact tracing system in place in the form of the mobile application ‘Ehteraz.’ This study assesses the utility of various pre-procedural screening measures in asymptomatic patients and generate recommendations for any potential improvement in the workflow.

Methods

This is a cross-sectional study of asymptomatic patients who had SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR screening performed before bronchoscopy or lung function testing scheduled on an elective basis. Descriptive statistics were used to summarize and determine the sample characteristics. The rate of the positive PCR test result was subsequently calculated.

Results

Two patients (0.34%) tested positive for COVID-19 on their pre-procedural screen. Four patients (0.68%) had an inconclusive result.

Conclusion

The positivity rate of SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR is extremely low in asymptomatic individuals screened before bronchoscopy and spirometry. The authors recommend pre-procedural symptom and electronic application-based contact screening instead of universal pre-procedural SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR for screening asymptomatic individuals.

Keywords

COVID-19
SARS-COV-2
Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction
Pre-procedural screening
Contact tracing

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