Just 2020.
Study characteristics | |||
Patient Sampling |
Purpose: diagnosis of SARS‐CoV‐2 infection (mild COVID‐19 disease); to identify predictive risk factors for a positive SARS‐CoV‐2 RT‐PCR result in a primary care setting Design: multicentre, cross‐sectional cohort study Recruitment: 26 office‐based specialists for internal and/or general medicine with a full primary care mandate from 14 different locations participated in the study. Suspected COVID‐19 patients for whom a PCR was taken were included. Sample size: n = 374 (40 cases) Inclusion criteria: convenience sample of patients who received PCR in the participating GPs' practices within the study period Exclusion criteria: patients whose tests had been carried out for procedural reasons and did not correspond to a specific clinical indication were excluded (e.g. testing of recovered patients after end of quarantine). There were no other exclusion criteria. |
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Patient characteristics and setting |
Facility cases: suspected patients with a positive PCR test Facility controls: suspected patients with a negative PCR test Country: Germany Dates: 24 March 2020‐17 April 2020 Symptoms and severity: mild to moderate severity Demographics: median age: cases: 52.0 years, controls: 43.5 years gender: % female cases: 65.0%, controls: 57.2% Exposure history: first grade contact (with symptoms): cases: 35.0%, controls 17.4% |
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Index tests |
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Target condition and reference standard(s) |
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Flow and timing | RS and index tests both taken on admission | ||
Comparative | |||
Notes | Funding: none declared | ||
Methodological quality | |||
Item | Authors' judgement | Risk of bias | Applicability concerns |
DOMAIN 1: Patient Selection | |||
Was a consecutive or random sample of patients enrolled? | No | ||
Was a case‐control design avoided? | Yes | ||
Did the study avoid inappropriate exclusions? | Unclear | ||
Did the study avoid inappropriate inclusions? | Yes | ||
Could the selection of patients have introduced bias? | High risk | ||
Are there concerns that the included patients and setting do not match the review question? | Low concern | ||
DOMAIN 2: Index Test (All tests) | |||
Were the index test results interpreted without knowledge of the results of the reference standard? | Yes | ||
If a threshold was used, was it pre‐specified? | Unclear | ||
Could the conduct or interpretation of the index test have introduced bias? | High risk | ||
Are there concerns that the index test, its conduct, or interpretation differ from the review question? | Low concern | ||
DOMAIN 3: Reference Standard | |||
Is the reference standards likely to correctly classify the target condition? | Yes | ||
Were the reference standard results interpreted without knowledge of the results of the index tests? | Unclear | ||
Could the reference standard, its conduct, or its interpretation have introduced bias? | Low risk | ||
Are there concerns that the target condition as defined by the reference standard does not match the question? | Low concern | ||
DOMAIN 4: Flow and Timing | |||
Was there an appropriate interval between index test and reference standard? | Yes | ||
Did all patients receive the same reference standard? | Yes | ||
Were all patients included in the analysis? | Yes | ||
Could the patient flow have introduced bias? | Low risk |