Utility of the FebriDx point-of-care assay in supporting a triage algorithm for medical admissions with possible COVID-19: an observational cohort study

Autor: Hamish Houston, John Ross, Ankur Gupta-Wright, Sarah Ann Filson, Nidhi Vaid, Guduru Gopal Rao, Laurence John, Kamal Shah, Gavin Deas, Shivam Naik, Shiras Patel, Maria Greca Dottori, Michael Tay, James Biggin-Lamming, Natalie Vaughan, Amit K Amin
Jazyk: angličtina
Rok vydání: 2021
Předmět:
Zdroj: BMJ Open, Vol 11, Iss 8 (2021)
Druh dokumentu: article
ISSN: 2044-6055
DOI: 10.1136/bmjopen-2021-049179
Popis: Objective To evaluate a triage algorithm used to identify and isolate patients with suspected COVID-19 among medical patients needing admission to hospital using simple clinical criteria and the FebriDx assay.Design Retrospective observational cohort.Setting Large acute National Health Service hospital in London, UK.Participants All medical admissions from the emergency department between 10 August 2020 and 4 November 2020 with a valid SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR result.Interventions Medical admissions were triaged as likely, possible or unlikely COVID-19 based on clinical criteria. Patients triaged as possible COVID-19 underwent FebriDx lateral flow assay on capillary blood, and those positive for myxovirus resistance protein A (a host response protein) were managed as likely COVID-19.Primary outcome measures Diagnostic accuracy (sensitivity, specificity and predictive values) of the algorithm and the FebriDx assay using SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR from nasopharyngeal swabs as the reference standard.Results 4.0% (136) of 3443 medical admissions had RT-PCR confirmed COVID-19. Prevalence of COVID-19 was 46% (80/175) in those triaged as likely, 4.1% (50/1225) in possible and 0.3% (6/2033) in unlikely COVID-19. Using a SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR reference standard, clinical triage had sensitivity of 96% (95% CI 91% to 98%) and specificity of 61.5% (95% CI 59.8% to 63.1%), while the triage algorithm including FebriDx had sensitivity of 93% (95% CI 87% to 96%) and specificity of 86.4% (95% CI 85.2% to 87.5%). While 2033 patients were deemed not to require isolation using clinical criteria alone, the addition of FebriDx to clinical triage allowed a further 826 patients to be released from isolation, reducing the need for isolation rooms by 9.5 per day, 95% CI 8.9 to 10.2. Ten patients missed by the algorithm had mild or asymptomatic COVID-19.Conclusions A triage algorithm including the FebriDx assay had good sensitivity and was useful to ‘rule-out’ COVID-19 among medical admissions to hospital.
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