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COVID-19 Testing

Can COVID-19 Be Detected Using a Breath Test?

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BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE:

  • Ruszkiewicz et al. (EClinical Medicine, 2020) examined the feasibility of using breath analysis to distinguish COVID-19 from other respiratory conditions

METHODS:

  • Independent observational prevalence studies
  • Setting
    • UK and Germany
  • Participants
    • Adult patients presenting at hospital for possible COVID-19
  • Study design
    • Participants gave a single breath-sample for analysis by gas chromatography-ion mobility spectrometry (GC-IMS)
    • SARS-CoV-2 presence was determined using PCR of oral/nasal swabs
    • COVID-19 breath-biomarkers were identified by multi-variate analysis and comparison to GC-IMS databases
    • COVID-19 breath-score based on the relative abundance of a panel of volatile organic compounds

RESULTS:

  • 98 patients
    • UK COVID-19 positive: 63.6%
    • Germany COVID-19 positive: 15.4%
    • Other non-COVID diagnoses: Asthma | COPD | Bacterial pneumonia | Cardiac conditions
  • The following volatile organic compounds could discriminate between COVID-19 and other respiratory conditions
    • Aldehydes (ethanal, octanal)
    • Ketones (acetone, butanone)
    • Methanol
  • Differentiation of patients who were positive for COVID-19 from those who were negative was possible with 80% and 81.5% accuracy (UK and Germany, respectively)
    • UK
      • Sensitivity: 82.4%
      • Specificity: 75%
      • Area-under-the-receiver- operator-characteristic (ROC) 0.87 (95% CI, 0.67 to 1)
    • Germany
      • Sensitivity: 90%
      • Specificity: 80%
      • AUROC 0.91 (95% CI, 0.87 to 1)

CONCLUSION:

  • COVID-19 patients could be distinguished from patients with other respiratory conditions using breath analysis
  • The marker compounds identified were consistent with breath biochemistry that would be altered by ketosis, GI abnormalities, and inflammatory processes

Learn More – Primary Sources:

Diagnosis of COVID-19 by analysis of breath with gas chromatography-ion mobility spectrometry – a feasibility study

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Related ObG Topics:

What is the Data Behind the Use of Saliva Samples for COVID-19 Testing?
How Good is Chest CT at Detecting COVID-19?
Aerosols and Surfaces: SARS-CoV-2 Stability

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