Mayo Clinic Proceedings: Innovations, Quality & Outcomes (Jun 2021)

EVALI: A Mimicker of COVID-19

  • Mitchell M. Pitlick, MD,
  • Daenielle K. Lang, MD,
  • Anne M. Meehan, MBBCh, PhD,
  • Christopher P. McCoy, MD

Journal volume & issue
Vol. 5, no. 3
pp. 682 – 687

Abstract

Read online

E-cigarette or vaping product use–associated lung injury (EVALI) is a respiratory illness that has significant overlap with the symptoms of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). In the current pandemic, diagnosis of EVALI may be delayed because of anchoring bias when patients present with symptoms consistent with COVID-19. We present 3 cases of patients who were hospitalized with a presumed diagnosis of COVID-19 but were later diagnosed with EVALI.