Venous blood gas analysis in patients with COVID-19 symptoms in the early assessment of virus positivity
Dzemal Elezagic, Wibke Johannis, Volker Burst, Florian Klein, Thomas Streichert
Abstract
Abstract Objectives Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is currently a worldwide major health threat. Recognizing hypoxia in patients early on can have a considerable effect on therapy success and survival rate. Methods We collected data using a standard blood gas analyzer from 50 patients and analyzed measurements of partial pressure of carbon dioxide-pCO 2 , partial pressure of oxygen-pO 2 and oxygen saturation-sO 2 , bicarbonate concentrations-HCO 3− as well as ionized calcium concentrations. We further examined PCR test results for SARS-CoV-2 of the patients and analyzed differences between patients tested positive and those tested negative for the virus. Results Venous pCO 2 was significantly higher whereas pO 2 and sO 2 were significantly lower in patients who tested positive for SARS-CoV-2. The pH, and ionized calcium concentrations of patients tested positive for the virus were significantly lower than in those tested negative. Conclusions Symptomatic SARS-CoV-2-positive patients upon admission to the emergency room exhibit lower venous blood levels of oxygen, pH, and calcium and higher levels of carbon dioxide compared to symptomatic SARS-CoV-2-negative patients. This blood gas analysis constellation could help in identifying SARS-CoV-2-positive patients more rapidly and identifying early signs of hypoxia.