ABSTRACT
Background: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious infectious disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The World Health Organization (WHO) declared this infection a global pandemic in 2020. In addition, various methods have been developed to diagnose COVID-19 rapidly and accurately to reverse transcription-polymerase chain re-action (RT-PCR) as a gold standard method. One of these methods is the detection of volatile organic compounds (VOC) in exhaled breath. Objectives: The aim was to collect and investigate studies on the accuracy of VOC detection as a diagnostic method for COVID-19. Methods: A literature search was performed in five electronic databases, including PubMed, Cochrane Library, ProQuest, EBSCO-host, and Scopus, along with hand searching. The search was conducted in the titles and s of articles using keywords and their equivalent terms, combined with the Boolean operators (OR and AND). The search results were then selected according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria and compatibility with the Population, Intervention, Control, and Outcomes (PICO) framework. Results: Based on the search results, two cross-sectional studies by Wintjens et al. and Ruszkiewicz et al. were selected, which were then critically appraised. Both studies showed good validity. Wintjens et al. reported 86% sensitivity and 54% specificity for their method, with a positive predictive value (PPV) and a negative predictive value (NPV) of 40% and 92%, respectively. Besides, Ruszkiewicz et al., who conducted a study in two different locations, reported 82.4% sensitivity and 75% specificity for their method in Edinburgh (UK), with PPV and NPV of 87.5% and 66.7%, respectively, while they reported 90% sensitivity and 80% specificity in Dortmund (Germany), with PPV and NPV of 45% and 97.8%, respectively. The accuracy of these three methods was 62%, 80%, and 82%, respectively. Conclusions: Detection of VOCs from exhaled breath can be a rapid, cost-effective, and simple method for diagnosing COVID-19. However, the accuracy of this method is still relatively low (62 -82%) and inconsistent;therefore, it is only recommended for screen-ing.
ABSTRACT
The emergency hospital is intended to prevent transmission of COVID-19 in the community by isolating patients without symptoms, with mild or moderate symptoms. This study evaluated the clinical characteristics and outcomes of COVID-19 patients who were admitted to this facility. This retrospective study reviewed data of patients treated at the National Emergency Hospital Wisma Met Kemayoran in Jakarta, Indonesia, from March 23 to April 30, 2020. Patient characteristics (clinical symptoms, laboratory test results, Chest X-Ray, SARS-CoV-2 immunoserology, and RT-PCR results from nasopharyngeal/oropharyngeal preparations) were compared between severity groups. There were 413 COVID-19 cases analyzed, of which 190 (46%) were asymptomatic, 93 (22.5%) were mild, and 130 (31.5%) were moderate cases. Most asymptomatic cases were male, with young age, and without comorbidity. Mild cases were dominated by female and young patients, while most moderate cases were male and older patients. The number of patients with comorbidities was higher in mild and mod-erate cases. The patient's overall outcome was good and did not differ based on the severity of symptoms. Despite the many challenges, patients with moderate symptoms can be safely treated in the emergency hospital.