{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2022,9,30]],"date-time":"2022-09-30T05:07:21Z","timestamp":1664514441217},"reference-count":0,"publisher":"World Health Organization Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean (WHO\/EMRO)","issue":"9","content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["East Mediterr Health J."],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2022,9,29]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>Background: COVID-19 has symptoms similar to several other respiratory and non-respiratory diseases, which makes differentiating them a challenging task and could lead to unnecessary use of realtime reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) resources. Aims: The study aimed to assess self-reported symptoms as predictors for RT-PCR positivity in suspected COVID-19 cases. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study. We retrospectively reviewed the database of COVID-19 care centres in the eastern district of Tripoli, Libya, from May to December 2020. Presenting symptoms and RT-PCR test data were extracted. Results: Of the 4593 subjects, 923 (20.1%) had positive RT-PCR result. Sensitivity for COVID-19 disease diagnosis was very low (\u2264 18.2%) for all symptoms, except for myalgia (82.1%). Specificity was high for all symptoms (90.7\u201399.8%), except for myalgia (11.0%). Loss of taste and smell had the highest positive likelihood ratio (LR) for RT-PCR positivity (LR+ = 3.59, 95% CI: 2.95\u20134.37). In the multiple logistic regression, three symptoms maintained significant contribution to RT-PCR positivity; these were loss of taste and smell (odds ratio (OR) = 3.90, 95% CI: 3.04\u20134.99), sore throat (OR = 1.50, 95% CI: 1.02\u20132.19), and myalgia (OR = 0.65, 95% CI: 0.49\u20130.85). Other significant predictors were history of contact with a COVID-19 case (OR = 0.50, 95% CI: 0.39\u20130.62), and being female (OR = 1.33, 95% CI: 1.15\u20131.55). Conclusion: The findings of this study do not support the use of self-reported symptoms for the confirmation of COVID-19 disease in suspected cases because of their poor diagnostic properties.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.26719\/emhj.22.061","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,7,24]],"date-time":"2022-07-24T12:11:30Z","timestamp":1658664690000},"page":"664-672","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Could self-reported symptoms be predictors of RT-PCR positivity in suspected COVID-19 cases? The Libya experience"],"prefix":"10.26719","volume":"28","author":[{"given":"Amira","family":"El Ghiadi","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Omnia","family":"Eddali","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Sana","family":"Ashur","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Laila","family":"Sabei","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"11263","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,9,29]]},"container-title":["Eastern Mediterranean Health Journal"],"original-title":[],"link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/applications.emro.who.int\/EMHJ\/V28\/09\/1020-3397-2022-2809-664\u2013672-eng.pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2022,9,29]],"date-time":"2022-09-29T14:26:27Z","timestamp":1664461587000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/applications.emro.who.int\/EMHJ\/V28\/09\/1020-3397-2022-2809-664\u2013672-eng.pdf"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2022,9,29]]},"references-count":0,"journal-issue":{"issue":"9","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,9,29]]},"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2022,9,29]]}},"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.26719\/emhj.22.061","relation":{},"ISSN":["1020-3397","1687-1634"],"issn-type":[{"value":"1020-3397","type":"print"},{"value":"1687-1634","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2022,9,29]]}}}