Optimizing diagnostic strategy for novel coronavirus pneumonia, a multi-center study in Eastern China

Jing-Wen Ai; Hao-Cheng Zhang; Teng Xu; Jing Wu; Mengqi Zhu; Yi-Qi Yu; Han-Yue Zhang; Zhongliang Shen; Yang Li; Xian Zhou; Guo-Qing Zang; Jie Xu; Wen-Jing Chen; Yong-Jun Li; De-Sheng Xie; Ming-Zhe Zhou; Jing-Ying Sun; Jia-Zhen Chen; Wen-Hong Zhang

We described a multicenter prospective study on the diagnosis of suspected SARS-COV-2 pneumonia (NCP) from January 22 nd to February 9 th , 2020 in Eastern China cities. Cases were diagnosed based on the WHO interim guidance 15 . According to the Chinese guideline, suspected NCP cases were identified as having pneumonia after chest CT (with one of the two following criteria met: fever or respiratory symptoms, normal of decreased white blood cell counts/ decreased lymphocytes counts), and a travel history or contact with patients with fever or respiratory symptoms from Hubei Province or confirmed cases within 2 weeks. A confirmed case with NCP was defined as a positive SARS-COV-2 nucleotides result either by metagenomic sequencing or RT-PCR assay for nasopharyngeal swab specimens 14 . Severe cases are defined as any one of the followings: 1) Respiratory distress, respiratory rates ≥ 30 per minute; 2) Pulse oxygen saturation ≤93% on room air 3) Oxygenation Index (PaO2/FiO2) ≤300mmHg. Oral consents were obtained from all the patients and the study was approved by the ethics review committee of Huashan Hospital affiliated to Fudan University.