Diagnostic accuracy of infrared thermal imaging for detecting COVID-19 infection in minimally symptomatic patients.
Eur J Clin Invest
; 51(3): e13474, 2021 Mar.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-991347
ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION:
Despite being widely used as a screening tool, a rigorous scientific evaluation of infrared thermography for the diagnosis of minimally symptomatic patients suspected of having COVID-19 infection has not been performed.METHODS:
A consecutive sample of 60 adult individuals with a history of close contact with COVID-19 infected individuals and mild respiratory symptoms for less than 7 days and 20 confirmed COVID-19 negative healthy volunteers were enrolled in the study. Infrared thermograms of the face were obtained with a mobile camera, and RT-PCR was used as the reference standard test to diagnose COVID-19 infection. Temperature values and distribution of the face of healthy volunteers and patients with and without COVID-19 infection were then compared.RESULTS:
Thirty-four patients had an RT-PCR confirmed diagnosis of COVID-19 and 26 had negative test results. The temperature asymmetry between the lacrimal caruncles and the forehead was significantly higher in COVID-19 positive individuals. Through a random forest analysis, a cut-off value of 0.55°C was found to discriminate with an 82% accuracy between patients with and without COVID-19 confirmed infection.CONCLUSIONS:
Among adults with a history of COVID-19 exposure and mild respiratory symptoms, a temperature asymmetry of ≥ 0.55°C between the lacrimal caruncle and the forehead is highly suggestive of COVID-19 infection. This finding questions the widespread use of the measurement of absolute temperature values of the forehead as a COVID-19 screening tool.Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Body Temperature
/
Thermography
/
Eye
/
Forehead
/
COVID-19
Type of study:
Cohort study
/
Diagnostic study
/
Experimental Studies
/
Observational study
/
Prognostic study
/
Randomized controlled trials
Limits:
Adult
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
/
Middle aged
Language:
English
Journal:
Eur J Clin Invest
Year:
2021
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Eci.13474
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