Ground-glass opacity on emergency department chest X-ray: a risk factor for in-hospital mortality and organ failure in elderly admitted for COVID-19

ABSTRACT

Introduction

Ground-glass opacity is commonly seen on radiographic imaging tests of patients admitted for COVID-19. The main objective of this study is to determine if the presence of ground-glass opacity on chest X-rays carried out at the Emergency Department correlates with significantly higher mortality. A secondary objective is to clarify which characteristics are associated with those patients who presented ground-glass opacity.

Methods

Data were obtained from our 2020 hospital admission records. Consequently, this is a retrospective cohort study. Our cohort consists of 300 admissions from a group of elderly with a mean age of 81.6. There were 49.3% women (148/300) and 50.7% men (152/300).

Results

The presence of ground-glass opacity on chest X-rays is a risk factor for in-hospital mortality (RR = 1.6), heart failure (RR = 4.3), respiratory failure (RR = 1.5), acute kidney injury (RR = 1.3) and ICU admission (RR = 2.7).

Conclusion

Based on these results, the variable ‘finding ground-glass opacity on chest X-rays carried out at the Emergency Department’ should be assessed for inclusion in the different calculators that estimate the prognosis/mortality rate of patients admitted for COVID-19.

KEYWORDS:

• COVID-19
• ground-glass opacity
• chest X-ray
• mortality
• organ failure
• elderly

Declaration of funding

No funding was received for the production of this manuscript.

Disclosure of any financial/other conflicts of interest

The authors have no relevant conflicts of interest to disclose. Peer reviewers on this manuscript have no relevant financial or other relationships to disclose.

Ethics approval

Approved by the Research Ethics Committee of our Hospital. Committee code: 20/057