Development of simple and sensitive score to assess the risk of pneumonia in Covid-19 patients

ABSTRACT Background: Severe pneumonia is the most common cause of intensive care unit (ICU) admission and death due to novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) respiratory disease (COVID-19). Due to its rapid outbreak, units for the evaluation of febrile patients in the pre-hospital setting were created. Objective: The objective of the study was to develop a sensitive and simple tool to assess the risk of pneumonia in COVID-19 patients and thus select which patients would require a chest imaging study. Materials and Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study in a cohort of individuals with suspected COVID-19 evaluated in a public academic healthcare center in Buenos Aires city. All adult patients with positive RT-PCR assay for SARS-COV2 between April 24 and May 19 of 2020 were included in the study. Pneumonia was defined as the presence of compatible signs and symptoms with imaging confirmation. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression was performed. A risk indicator score was developed. Results: One hundred and forty-eight patients were included, 71 (48%) received the diagnosis of pneumonia. The final clinical model included four variables: age ≥ 40 years, cough, absence of sore throat, and respiratory rate ≥ 22. To create the score, we assigned values to the variables according to their ORs: 2 points for respiratory rate ≥ 22 and 1 point to the other variables. The AUC of the ROC curve was 0.80 (CI 95% 0.73-0.86). A cutoff value of 2 showed a sensitivity of 95.7% and a specificity of 43.24%. Conclusion: This sensible score may improve the risk stratification of COVID-19 patients in the pre-hospital setting. (REV INVEST CLIN. 2021;73(1):52-8)

[Incomplete Carney's Triad and arterial hypertension in a young woman]. / Triada de Carney incompleta e hipertension arterial en una mujer joven.

The case of young woman with arterial hypertension diagnosed two years before, is here presented; she had a ferropenic anemia caused by digestive loss of blood. Multiple gastric tumors and pararenal non functioning paraganglioma were found. No chondromas were detected. An incomplete Carney's Triad was diagnosed. We remark that multiple gastric tumors in a young adult suggest the possibility of gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST) Endoscopic biopsy frequently is not effective because these tumors are deep placed in the muscular gastric layers. The importance of specific techniques for a positive diagnosis are emphasized. Continuous follow up is needed because these tumors have uncertain prognosis. Lung chondromas may appear years later after the GIST was removed and might be confused with GIST metastases.