International Journal of General Medicine (May 2022)

Chest Radiograph Severity Scores, Comorbidity Prevalence, and Outcomes of Patients with Coronavirus Disease Treated at the King Abdullah University Hospital in Jordan: A Retrospective Study

  • Gharaibeh M,
  • Elheis M,
  • Khasawneh R,
  • Al-Omari M,
  • Jibril M,
  • Dilki K,
  • El-Obeid E,
  • Altalhi M,
  • Abualigah L

Journal volume & issue
Vol. Volume 15
pp. 5103 – 5110

Abstract

Read online

Maha Gharaibeh,1 Mwaffaq Elheis,1 Ruba Khasawneh,1 Mamoon Al-Omari,1 Mohammad Jibril,1 Khalid Dilki,1 Eyhab El-Obeid,1 Maryam Altalhi,2 Laith Abualigah3 1Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology, Faculty of Medicine, Jordan University of Science and Technology, Irbid, 2210, Jordan; 2Department of Management Information System, College of Business Administration, Taif University, Taif, 21944, Saudi Arabia; 3Faculty of Computer Sciences and Informatics, Amman Arab University, Amman, 11953, JordanCorrespondence: Maha Gharaibeh; Laith Abualigah, Tel +96 2799716333, Email [email protected]; [email protected]: Hospitalized patients with coronavirus disease (COVID-19) often undergo chest x-ray (CXR). Utilizing CXR findings could reduce the cost of COVID-19 treatment and the resultant pressure on the Jordanian healthcare system.Methods: We evaluated the association between the CXR severity score, based on the Radiographic Assessment of Lung Edema (RALE) scoring system, and outcomes of patients with COVID-19. The main objective of this work is to assess the role of the RALE scoring system in predicting in-hospital mortality and clinical outcomes of patients with COVID-19. Adults with a positive severe acute respiratory syndrome COVID-19 two reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction test results and a baseline CXR image, obtained in November 2020, were included. The RALE severity scores were calculated by expert radiologists and categorized as normal, mild, moderate, and severe. Chi-square tests and multivariable logistic regression were used to assess the association between the severity category and admission location and clinical characteristics.Results: Based on the multivariable regression analysis, it has been found that male sex, hypertension, and the RALE severity score were significantly associated with in-hospital mortality. The baseline RALE severity score was associated with the need for critical care (P< 0.001), in-hospital mortality (P< 0.001), and the admission location (P=0.002).Discussion: The utilization of RALE severity scores helps to predict clinical outcomes and promote prudent use of resources during the COVID-19 pandemic.Keywords: COVID-19, chest radiograph, RALE score, prognosis, statistical analysis

Keywords