{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,28]],"date-time":"2026-04-28T07:27:14Z","timestamp":1777361234207,"version":"3.51.4"},"reference-count":14,"publisher":"Springer Science and Business Media LLC","issue":"1","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2021,7,19]],"date-time":"2021-07-19T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1626652800000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0"},{"start":{"date-parts":[[2021,7,19]],"date-time":"2021-07-19T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1626652800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/100008376","name":"Helsingin ja Uudenmaan Sairaanhoitopiiri","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100008376","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"name":"Etel\u00e4-Karjalan l\u00e4\u00e4k\u00e4riseura"},{"name":"Viipurin tuberkuloosis\u00e4\u00e4ti\u00f6"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["link.springer.com"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Scand J Trauma Resusc Emerg Med"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2021,12]]},"abstract":"<jats:title>Abstract<\/jats:title><jats:sec><jats:title>Background<\/jats:title><jats:p>There is a lack of knowledge how patients with COVID-19 disease differ from patients with similar signs or symptoms (but who will have a diagnosis other than COVID-19) in the prehospital setting. The aim of this study was to compare the characteristics of these two patient groups met by the emergency medical services.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title><jats:p>All prehospital patients after the World Health Organisation (WHO) pandemic declaration 11.3.2020 until 30.6.2020 were recruited for the study. The patients were screened using modified WHO criteria for suspected COVID-19. Data from the electronic prehospital patient reporting system were linked with hospital laboratory results to check the laboratory confirmation for COVID-19. For comparison, we divided the patients into two groups: screening- and laboratory-positive patients with a hospital diagnosis of COVID-19 and screening-positive but laboratory-negative patients who eventually received a different diagnosis in hospital.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Results<\/jats:title><jats:p>A total of 4157 prehospital patients fulfilled the criteria for suspected COVID-19 infection during the study period. Five-hundred-thirty-six (12.9%) of the suspected cases received a laboratory confirmation for COVID-19. The proportion of positive cases in relation to suspected ones peaked during the first 2 weeks after the declaration of the pandemic. In the comparison of laboratory-positive and laboratory-negative cases, there were clinically insignificant differences between the groups in age, tympanic temperature, systolic blood pressure, heart rate, on-scene time, urgency category of the call and mode of transportation. Foreign-language-speakers were overrepresented amongst the positive cases over native language speakers (26,6% vs. 7,4%,<jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\u2009&lt;\u20090,001). The number of cases in which no signs or symptoms of COVID-19 disease were reported, but patients turned out to have a positive test result was 125 (0,3% of the whole EMS patient population and 11,9% of all verified COVID-19 patients encountered by the EMS).<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Conclusions<\/jats:title><jats:p>In a sample of suspected COVID-19 patients, the laboratory-positive and laboratory-negative patients were clinically indistinguishable from each other during the prehospital assessment. Foreign-language-speakers had a high likelihood of having Covid-19. The modified WHO criteria still form the basis of screening of suspected COVID-19 patients in the prehospital setting.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1186\/s13049-021-00915-0","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,7,19]],"date-time":"2021-07-19T08:03:35Z","timestamp":1626681815000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/springer_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":9,"title":["Prehospital characteristics of COVID-19 patients in Helsinki \u2013 experience of the first wave of the pandemic"],"prefix":"10.1186","volume":"29","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-3057-6524","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Markku","family":"Kuisma","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Heini","family":"Harve-Ryts\u00e4l\u00e4","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Jussi","family":"Pirneskoski","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"James","family":"Boyd","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Mitja","family":"L\u00e4\u00e4peri","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Ari","family":"Salo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Tuukka","family":"Puolakka","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"297","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,7,19]]},"reference":[{"key":"915_CR1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"e534","DOI":"10.1002\/ams2.534","volume":"7","author":"Y Katayama","year":"2020","unstructured":"Katayama Y, Kiyohara K, Kitamura HS, Shimazu T. 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