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Rev Esp Quimioter 2020; 33(6): 422-429

Analysis of the demand for detection of SARSCoV-2 in a health area of Spain

JESÚS GARCÍA-CRUCES, RAÚL LÓPEZ IZQUIERDO, MARTA DOMÍNGUEZ-GIL, LUIS LÓPEZ-URRUTIA, MÓNICA DE FRUTOS, BELÉN LORENZO, BEGOÑA NOGUEIRA, ANTONIO PUERTA, MARTA FERNÁNDEZ-ESGUEVA, IRENE MERINO, MARÍA CARMEN RAMOS-SANCHEZ, JOSÉ MARÍA EIROS

Published: 16 September 2020

http://www.doi.org/10.37201/req/089.2020

Introduction. Since the discovery of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, the polymerase chain reaction technique (RT-PCR) has become the fundamental method for diagnosing the disease in its acute phase. The objective is to describe the demand-based series of RT-PCR determinations received at a Microbiology Service at a third-level reference hospital for a health area for three months spanning from the onset of the epidemic by SARS-CoV-2.
Methods. A retrospective analysis of the total of the RT-PCR requested in the Microbiology Service analyzed from 02/25/2020 to 05/26/2020 (90 days) has been carried out. They have been grouped by epidemiological weeks and by the petitioner service. A descriptive analysis was carried out by age, gender and number of requests for each patient. In the tests carried out, a confidence level of 95% (p <0.05) was considered significant.
Results. A total of 27,106 requests was received corresponding to 22,037 patients. Median age 53.7 (RIC 40.9-71.7) years, women: 61.3%. Proportion of patients with any positive RT-PCR: 14%. Of the total requests for RT-PCR, positive 3,710. Week 13 had the highest diagnosis performance (39.0%). The primary care has been the service thar has made the most requests (15,953). Patients with 3 or more RT-PCR: 565, of them, 19 patients had a positive result after previously having a negative one.
Conclusions. Requests have been increasing depending on the evolution of the epidemic. The RT-PCR has a high diagnostic performance in the phases of highest contagiousness and / or transmissibility of the virus.

Rev Esp Quimioter 2020; 33(6): 422-429 [Texto completo PDF]