„What about the others – differential diagnosis of COVID-19 in a German emergency department“

Abstract Background: The ongoing COVID-19 pandemia is a major challenge for worldwide health care systems. Especially an early and safe triage in the emergency department (ED) is crucial for proper therapy. Clinical symptoms of COVID-19 comprise those of many common diseases thus differential diagnosis remains challenging.Method: We performed a retrospective study of 314 ED patients presenting with possible symptoms of COVID-19. All were tested for COVID-19 with SARS-Cov2-nasopharyngeal swab. 47 patients were positive for COVID-19. We analyzed the 267 COVID-19 negative patients for their main diagnosis and compared COVID-19 patients with COVID-19 negative respiratory infections for differences in laboratory parameters, symptoms and vital signs. Results: Among the 267 COVID-19 negative patients 42.7% had respiratory, 14.2% other infectious and 11.2% cardiovascular diseases, followed by 9.0% oncological and 6.7% gastroenterological diagnosis. Compared to COVID-19 negative airway infections, COVID-19 patients showed less dyspnea but more dysgeusia. Their hospital stay was significantly longer and their mortality significantly higher. Conclusion: For many common ED diagnoses COVID-19 should be considered as a differential diagnosis. COVID-19 cannot be distinguished from COVID-19 negative respiratory infections by clinical signs, symptoms or laboratory results. When hospitalization is necessary, the clinical course of COVID-19 airway infections seems to be more severe compared to other respiratory infections.