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Updated: Oct 20, 2025
Remote Laboratory Management: Respiratory Virus Diagnostics
Published on: April 6, 2019
Potential solutions for screening, triage, and severity scoring of suspected COVID-19 positive patients in
Sarah Hirner1, Jennifer Lee Pigoga2, Antoinette Vanessa Naidoo2
1University of Colorado Denver School of Medicine, Aurora, Colorado, USA.
Insights
Effective screening and triage tools are vital for reducing COVID-19 deaths in low-resource settings (LRS). This review found many tools exist, but none were specifically designed or validated for LRS, highlighting a critical gap.
Area of Science:
- Public Health
- Infectious Disease Epidemiology
- Health Systems Research
Background:
- Effective screening, triage, and severity scoring tools are crucial for managing COVID-19, particularly in low-resource settings (LRS) to reduce mortality.
- Existing tools require evaluation for their utility and adaptability in resource-limited environments.
Purpose of the Study:
- To identify and evaluate proposed and implemented screening, triage, and severity scoring tools for patients with suspected COVID-19.
- To assess the feasibility and validation status of these tools for use in LRS.
Main Methods:
- A scoping review of studies published between December 2019 and April 2021 was conducted.
- Data extracted included clinical features, laboratory and imaging use, and tool validation.
- 124 studies met inclusion criteria from an initial search of 15,232 articles.
Main Results:
- 57 screening, 23 triage, and 54 severity scoring tools were identified.
- 31 screening, 5 triage, and 15 severity scoring tools were deemed feasible for LRS.
- While 37 studies provided validation data, none originated from low-income or lower-middle-income countries.
Conclusions:
- Numerous COVID-19 screening, triage, and severity scoring tools have been proposed and implemented.
- No tools were specifically designed and validated within LRS.
- Developing and validating context-specific tools for LRS is essential to decrease COVID-19 mortality.
Objectives:
Purposefully designed and validated screening, triage, and severity scoring tools are needed to reduce mortality of COVID-19 in low-resource settings (LRS). This review aimed to identify currently proposed and/or implemented methods of screening, triaging, and severity scoring of patients with suspected COVID-19 on initial presentation to the healthcare system and to evaluate the utility of these tools in LRS.
Design:
A scoping review was conducted to identify studies describing acute screening, triage, and severity scoring of patients with suspected COVID-19 published between 12 December 2019 and 1 April 2021. Extracted information included clinical features, use of laboratory and imaging studies, and relevant tool validation data.
Participant:
The initial search strategy yielded 15 232 articles; 124 met inclusion criteria.
Results:
Most studies were from China (n=41, 33.1%) or the United States (n=23, 18.5%). In total, 57 screening, 23 triage, and 54 severity scoring tools were described. A total of 51 tools-31 screening, 5 triage, and 15 severity scoring-were identified as feasible for use in LRS. A total of 37 studies provided validation data: 4 prospective and 33 retrospective, with none from low-income and lower middle-income countries.
Conclusions:
This study identified a number of screening, triage, and severity scoring tools implemented and proposed for patients with suspected COVID-19. No tools were specifically designed and validated in LRS. Tools specific to resource limited contexts is crucial to reducing mortality in the current pandemic.
