Dataset Information

Diagnostic accuracy of infrared thermal imaging for detecting COVID-19 infection in minimally symptomatic patients.

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.

SUBMITTER: Martinez-Jimenez MA

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7883263 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

Diagnostic accuracy of infrared thermal imaging for detecting COVID-19 infection in minimally symptomatic patients.

Martinez-Jimenez Mario A MA Loza-Gonzalez Victor M VM Kolosovas-Machuca E Samuel ES Yanes-Lane Mercedes E ME Ramirez-GarciaLuna Ana Sofia AS Ramirez-GarciaLuna Jose L JL

European journal of clinical investigation 20201228 3

<h4>Introduction</h4>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.<h4>Methods</h4>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. ...[more]

PMID: 33336385

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Dataset Information

Diagnostic accuracy of infrared thermal imaging for detecting COVID-19 infection in minimally symptomatic patients.

Introduction

Methods

Results

Conclusions

Publications

Diagnostic accuracy of infrared thermal imaging for detecting COVID-19 infection in minimally symptomatic patients.

Similar Datasets

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