Clinical Research Centre, Sunway Medical Centre, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia.
Department of Information & Communication Technologies, Sunway Medical Centre, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia.
PLoS One. 2021 Oct 14;16(10):e0258671. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0258671. eCollection 2021.
This cross-sectional observational study summarized the baseline characteristics of subjects who underwent COVID-19 molecular testing in a private medical centre located in the state of Selangor in Malaysia between 1 Oct 2020 and 31 Jan 2021. We compared the baseline characteristics between subjects who were tested positive and negative of SARS-CoV-2 infection, and identified risk factors which may be predictive of SARS-CoV-2 positivity.
A total of 36603 subjects who were tested for COVID-19 infection via molecular assays at Sunway Medical Centre between Oct 1, 2020 and Jan 31, 2021, and consented to participate in this observation study were included for analysis. Descriptive statistics was used to summarize the study cohort, whereas logistic regression analysis was used to identify risk factors associated with SARS-CoV-2 positivity. Among the reasons listed for COVID-19 screening were those who needed clearance for travelling, clearance to return to work, or clearance prior to hospital admission. They accounted for 67.7% of tested subjects, followed by the self-referred group (27.3%). Most of the confirmed cases were asymptomatic (62.6%), had no travel history (99.6%), and had neither exposure to SARS-CoV-2 confirmed cases (61.9%) nor exposure to patients under investigation (82.7%) and disease clusters (89.2%). Those who presented with loss of smell or taste (OR: 26.91; 95% CI: 14.81-48.92, p<0.001), fever (OR:3.97; 95% CI: 2.54-6.20, p<0.001), running nose (OR: 1.75; 95% CI:1.10-2.79, p = 0.019) or other symptoms (OR: 5.63; 95% CI:1.68-18.91, p = 0.005) were significantly associated with SARS-CoV-2 positivity in the multivariate logistic regression analysis.
Our study showed that majority of patients seeking COVID-19 testing in a private healthcare setting were mainly asymptomatic with low epidemiological risk. Consequently, the average positivity rate was 1.2% compared to the national cumulative positivity rate of 4.65%. Consistent with other studies, we found that loss of smell or taste, fever and running nose were associated with SARS-CoV-2 positivity. We believe that strengthening the capacity of private health institutions is important in the national battle against the COVID-19 pandemic, emphasizing the importance of public-private partnership to improve the quality of clinical care.
本横断面观察性研究总结了 2020 年 10 月 1 日至 2021 年 1 月 31 日期间在马来西亚雪兰莪州的一家私人医疗中心进行 COVID-19 分子检测的受试者的基线特征。我们比较了 SARS-CoV-2 感染检测阳性和阴性受试者的基线特征，并确定了可能预测 SARS-CoV-2 阳性的危险因素。
共有 36603 名受试者在 2020 年 10 月 1 日至 2021 年 1 月 31 日期间在双威医疗中心接受 COVID-19 感染的分子检测，并同意参与这项观察性研究。描述性统计用于总结研究队列，而逻辑回归分析用于确定与 SARS-CoV-2 阳性相关的危险因素。列出的 COVID-19 筛查原因包括需要旅行、工作或住院前的清除。他们占检测受试者的 67.7%，其次是自我推荐组（27.3%）。大多数确诊病例为无症状（62.6%），无旅行史（99.6%），既无 SARS-CoV-2 确诊病例接触史（61.9%），也无接触调查病例（82.7%）和疾病集群（89.2%）。出现嗅觉或味觉丧失（OR：26.91；95%CI：14.81-48.92，p<0.001）、发热（OR：3.97；95%CI：2.54-6.20，p<0.001）、流鼻涕（OR：1.75；95%CI：1.10-2.79，p=0.019）或其他症状（OR：5.63；95%CI：1.68-18.91，p=0.005）的患者在多变量逻辑回归分析中与 SARS-CoV-2 阳性显著相关。
我们的研究表明，在私人医疗保健机构寻求 COVID-19 检测的大多数患者主要为无症状且具有低流行病学风险。因此，平均阳性率为 1.2%，而全国累计阳性率为 4.65%。与其他研究一致，我们发现嗅觉或味觉丧失、发热和流鼻涕与 SARS-CoV-2 阳性有关。我们认为，加强私立医疗机构的能力对于国家抗击 COVID-19 大流行非常重要，强调公私合作伙伴关系对于提高临床护理质量的重要性。
