Assessment and management of asymptomatic COVID-19 infection: A systematic review.
Travel Med Infect Dis
; 41: 102058, 2021.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1171219
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
COVID-19 can be asymptomatic in a substantial proportion of patients. The assessment and management of these patients constitute a key element to stop dissemination.AIM:
To describe the assessment and treatment of asymptomatic infection in patients with a confirmed diagnosis of COVID-19.METHODS:
We searched five databases and search engines for preprints/preproofs, up to August 22, 2020. We included cohort, cross-sectional, and case series studies, reporting the assessment and management of asymptomatic individuals. We extracted data on total discharges with negative PCR, length of hospitalization, treatment, and number of patients who remained asymptomatic. A random-effects model with inverse variance method was used to calculate the pooled prevalence.RESULTS:
41 studies (nine cross-sectional studies, five retrospective studies and 27 reports/case series; 647 asymptomatic individuals), were included, of which 47% were male (233/501). The age of patients was between 1month and 73 years. In patients who became symptomatic, length of hospitalization mean was 13.6 days (SD 6.4). Studies used lopinavir/ritonavir, hydroxychloroquine plus ritonavir/lopinavir, hydroxychloroquine with and without azithromycin, ribavirin plus interferon and interferon alfa. The proportion of individuals who remained asymptomatic was 91% (463/588 patients; 95%CI 78.3%-98.7%); and asymptomatic individuals discharged with negative PCR was 86% (102/124 individuals; 95%CI 58.4%-100%).CONCLUSIONS:
There is no standard treatment for asymptomatic COVID-19 individuals. There are no studies of adequate design to make this decision. It has been shown that most asymptomatic individuals who were followed have recovered, but this cannot be attributed to standard treatment.Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Asymptomatic Infections
/
COVID-19
/
COVID-19 Drug Treatment
Type of study:
Cohort study
/
Diagnostic study
/
Observational study
/
Prognostic study
/
Randomized controlled trials
/
Reviews
/
Systematic review/Meta Analysis
Topics:
Variants
Limits:
Adolescent
/
Adult
/
Aged
/
Child
/
Child, preschool
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Infant
/
Male
/
Middle aged
Language:
English
Journal:
Travel Med Infect Dis
Journal subject:
Communicable Diseases
Year:
2021
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
J.tmaid.2021.102058
Similar
MEDLINE
...
LILACS
LIS