dc.contributor
[Lindberg BH] National Centre for Emergency Primary Health Care, NORCE Norwegian Research Centre AS, Bergen, Norway. Department of General Practice, Institute of Health and Society, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway. [López-Valcárcel BG] Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Las Palmas, Spain. [Olsen JK] Research Unit of General Practice, Department of Public Health, University of Southern Denmark, Aarhus, Denmark. [Hansen MP] Research Unit of General Practice, Department of Public Health, University of Southern Denmark, Aarhus, Denmark. Center for General Practice, Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark. [Lykkegaard J] Research Unit of General Practice, Department of Public Health, University of Southern Denmark, Aarhus, Denmark. [Llor C] Research Unit of General Practice, Department of Public Health, University of Southern Denmark, Aarhus, Denmark. Institut Català de la Salut, Barcelona, Spain. Fundació Institut Universitari per a la Recerca a l'Atenció Primària de Salut Jordi Gol i Gurina (IDIAPJGol), Barcelona, Spain. [García-Sangenís A] Fundació Institut Universitari per a la Recerca a l'Atenció Primària de Salut Jordi Gol i Gurina (IDIAPJGol), Barcelona, Spain
dc.contributor
IDIAP Jordi Gol
dc.contributor.author
Lindberg, Bent Håkan
dc.contributor.author
López-Valcárcel, Beatriz G.
dc.contributor.author
Olsen, Jonas
dc.contributor.author
Hansen, Malene Plejdrup
dc.contributor.author
Lykkegaard, Jesper
dc.contributor.author
Llor, Carl
dc.contributor.author
Garcia-Sangenis, Ana
dc.date.accessioned
2026-01-28T20:30:39Z
dc.date.available
2026-01-28T20:30:39Z
dc.date.issued
2026-01-27T09:21:36Z
dc.date.issued
2026-01-27T09:21:36Z
dc.date.issued
2025-07-30
dc.identifier
Lindberg BH, López-Valcárcel BG, Olsen JK, Hansen MP, Lykkegaard J, Llor C, et al. Diagnosing acute lower respiratory tract infections in out-of-hours services during the COVID-19 pandemic. Int J Emerg Med. 2025 Jul 30;18(1):138.
dc.identifier
http://hdl.handle.net/11351/14190
dc.identifier
10.1186/s12245-025-00942-z
dc.identifier.uri
http://hdl.handle.net/11351/14190
dc.description.abstract
Primary care; Out-of-hours; Respiratory tract infections; Pneumonia; Diagnostic process
dc.description.abstract
Atenció primària; Atenció en horari no laboral; Infeccions de les vies respiratòries; Pneumònia; Procés diagnòstic
dc.description.abstract
Atención primaria; Atención en horario no laboral; Infecciones de las vías respiratorias; Neumonía; Proceso diagnóstico
dc.description.abstract
Acute lower respiratory tract infections (LRTIs) commonly lead people to seek out-of-hours primary care. Symptoms of lower respiratory tract infections overlap, and access to definite diagnostic tools is lacking in most out-of-hours settings. Distinguishing between different LRTIs is vital to ensure appropriate antibiotic prescribing. The study aimed to identify which clinical factors have guided out-of-hours physicians in distinguishing LRTIs in the late phase of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Out-of-hours physicians from France, Greece, Lithuania, Poland, and Spain registered pre-defined clinical information about all cases suspected of an RTI on an A4-paper Audit Project Odense chart from January to March 2022. Two multivariable logistic regressions were performed to analyse which clinical factors the physicians used to distinguish between pneumonia and other LRTIs.
A total of 1,222 cases of either pneumonia, acute bronchitis/bronchiolitis, common cold/influenza, or COVID-19 were registered by 86 participating physicians. Fever and cough were the most common symptoms reported. The pneumonia diagnosis was associated with abnormal lung auscultation (odds ratio (OR) 11.41, 95% confidence interval (CI) 4.14-31.45), poor general condition (OR 5.96, CI 2.43-14.60), tachypnoea (OR 2.55, CI 1.38-4.73), and a combination of fever and cough (OR 11.10, CI 2.87-42.97).
During the late COVID-19 pandemic, out-of-hours physicians' registered information about the patients' clinical condition, respiratory rate assessment, and lung auscultation evaluation were associated with diagnosing pneumonia, among other LRTIs.
dc.description.abstract
Open access funding provided by NORCE Research AS. Open access funding provided by NORCE Research AS. European Commission (3rd EU Health Programme). Grant number 900024. In Poland, this publication was also part of an international project co-financed by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education program entitled “PMW” in 2022–2023; contract no. 5241/ HP3/2022/2. The funding organisations had no role in the study design, concept or approval of the manuscript
dc.format
application/pdf
dc.format
application/pdf
dc.publisher
BioMed Central
dc.relation
International Journal of Emergency Medicine;18(1)
dc.relation
https://www.doi.org/10.1186/s12245-025-00942-z
dc.rights
Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International
dc.rights
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
dc.rights
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
dc.subject
Infeccions respiratòries - Diagnòstic
dc.subject
COVID-19 (Malaltia)
dc.subject
DISEASES::Respiratory Tract Diseases::Respiratory Tract Infections
dc.subject
ANALYTICAL, DIAGNOSTIC AND THERAPEUTIC TECHNIQUES, AND EQUIPMENT::Diagnosis
dc.subject
DISEASES::Virus Diseases::RNA Virus Infections::Nidovirales Infections::Coronaviridae Infections::Coronavirus Infections
dc.subject
HEALTH CARE::Health Care Facilities, Manpower, and Services::Health Services::Emergency Medical Services
dc.subject
Infecciones del Sistema Respiratorio
dc.subject
TÉCNICAS Y EQUIPOS ANALÍTICOS, DIAGNÓSTICOS Y TERAPÉUTICOS::diagnóstico
dc.subject
ENFERMEDADES::virosis::infecciones por virus ARN::infecciones por Nidovirales::infecciones por Coronaviridae::infecciones por Coronavirus
dc.subject
ATENCIÓN DE SALUD::instalaciones, servicios y personal de asistencia sanitaria::servicios de salud::servicios médicos de urgencia
dc.title
Diagnosing acute lower respiratory tract infections in out-of-hours services during the COVID-19 pandemic
dc.type
info:eu-repo/semantics/article
dc.type
info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
