Clinical and epidemiological characteristics of patients seeking COVID-19 testing in a private centre in Malaysia: Is there a role for private healthcare in battling the outbreak?

<h4>Objective</h4>This cross-sectional observational study summarized the baseline characteristics of subjects who underwent COVID-19 molecular testing in a private medical centre located in the state of Selangor in Malaysia between 1 Oct 2020 and 31 Jan 2021. We compared the baseline ch...

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Autores principales:	Yock Ping Chow, Brenda Huey Zien Chin, Jin Ming Loo, Loshini R Moorthy, Jamuna Jairaman, Lian Huat Tan, Wendy Wan Ying Tay
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2021
Materias:	Medicine R Science Q
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/7f26aaececc84b3cb8a5f8838b1b00aa
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:7f26aaececc84b3cb8a5f8838b1b00aa2021-12-02T20:07:52ZClinical and epidemiological characteristics of patients seeking COVID-19 testing in a private centre in Malaysia: Is there a role for private healthcare in battling the outbreak?1932-620310.1371/journal.pone.0258671https://doaj.org/article/7f26aaececc84b3cb8a5f8838b1b00aa2021-01-01T00:00:00Zhttps://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0258671https://doaj.org/toc/1932-6203<h4>Objective</h4>This cross-sectional observational study summarized the baseline characteristics of subjects who underwent COVID-19 molecular testing in a private medical centre located in the state of Selangor in Malaysia between 1 Oct 2020 and 31 Jan 2021. We compared the baseline characteristics between subjects who were tested positive and negative of SARS-CoV-2 infection, and identified risk factors which may be predictive of SARS-CoV-2 positivity.<h4>Methods and findings</h4>A total of 36603 subjects who were tested for COVID-19 infection via molecular assays at Sunway Medical Centre between Oct 1, 2020 and Jan 31, 2021, and consented to participate in this observation study were included for analysis. Descriptive statistics was used to summarize the study cohort, whereas logistic regression analysis was used to identify risk factors associated with SARS-CoV-2 positivity. Among the reasons listed for COVID-19 screening were those who needed clearance for travelling, clearance to return to work, or clearance prior to hospital admission. They accounted for 67.7% of tested subjects, followed by the self-referred group (27.3%). Most of the confirmed cases were asymptomatic (62.6%), had no travel history (99.6%), and had neither exposure to SARS-CoV-2 confirmed cases (61.9%) nor exposure to patients under investigation (82.7%) and disease clusters (89.2%). Those who presented with loss of smell or taste (OR: 26.91; 95% CI: 14.81-48.92, p<0.001), fever (OR:3.97; 95% CI: 2.54-6.20, p<0.001), running nose (OR: 1.75; 95% CI:1.10-2.79, p = 0.019) or other symptoms (OR: 5.63; 95% CI:1.68-18.91, p = 0.005) were significantly associated with SARS-CoV-2 positivity in the multivariate logistic regression analysis.<h4>Conclusion</h4>Our study showed that majority of patients seeking COVID-19 testing in a private healthcare setting were mainly asymptomatic with low epidemiological risk. Consequently, the average positivity rate was 1.2% compared to the national cumulative positivity rate of 4.65%. Consistent with other studies, we found that loss of smell or taste, fever and running nose were associated with SARS-CoV-2 positivity. We believe that strengthening the capacity of private health institutions is important in the national battle against the COVID-19 pandemic, emphasizing the importance of public-private partnership to improve the quality of clinical care.Yock Ping ChowBrenda Huey Zien ChinJin Ming LooLoshini R MoorthyJamuna JairamanLian Huat TanWendy Wan Ying TayPublic Library of Science (PLoS)articleMedicineRScienceQENPLoS ONE, Vol 16, Iss 10, p e0258671 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medicine R Science Q
spellingShingle	Medicine R Science Q Yock Ping Chow Brenda Huey Zien Chin Jin Ming Loo Loshini R Moorthy Jamuna Jairaman Lian Huat Tan Wendy Wan Ying Tay Clinical and epidemiological characteristics of patients seeking COVID-19 testing in a private centre in Malaysia: Is there a role for private healthcare in battling the outbreak?
description	<h4>Objective</h4>This cross-sectional observational study summarized the baseline characteristics of subjects who underwent COVID-19 molecular testing in a private medical centre located in the state of Selangor in Malaysia between 1 Oct 2020 and 31 Jan 2021. We compared the baseline characteristics between subjects who were tested positive and negative of SARS-CoV-2 infection, and identified risk factors which may be predictive of SARS-CoV-2 positivity.<h4>Methods and findings</h4>A total of 36603 subjects who were tested for COVID-19 infection via molecular assays at Sunway Medical Centre between Oct 1, 2020 and Jan 31, 2021, and consented to participate in this observation study were included for analysis. Descriptive statistics was used to summarize the study cohort, whereas logistic regression analysis was used to identify risk factors associated with SARS-CoV-2 positivity. Among the reasons listed for COVID-19 screening were those who needed clearance for travelling, clearance to return to work, or clearance prior to hospital admission. They accounted for 67.7% of tested subjects, followed by the self-referred group (27.3%). Most of the confirmed cases were asymptomatic (62.6%), had no travel history (99.6%), and had neither exposure to SARS-CoV-2 confirmed cases (61.9%) nor exposure to patients under investigation (82.7%) and disease clusters (89.2%). Those who presented with loss of smell or taste (OR: 26.91; 95% CI: 14.81-48.92, p<0.001), fever (OR:3.97; 95% CI: 2.54-6.20, p<0.001), running nose (OR: 1.75; 95% CI:1.10-2.79, p = 0.019) or other symptoms (OR: 5.63; 95% CI:1.68-18.91, p = 0.005) were significantly associated with SARS-CoV-2 positivity in the multivariate logistic regression analysis.<h4>Conclusion</h4>Our study showed that majority of patients seeking COVID-19 testing in a private healthcare setting were mainly asymptomatic with low epidemiological risk. Consequently, the average positivity rate was 1.2% compared to the national cumulative positivity rate of 4.65%. Consistent with other studies, we found that loss of smell or taste, fever and running nose were associated with SARS-CoV-2 positivity. We believe that strengthening the capacity of private health institutions is important in the national battle against the COVID-19 pandemic, emphasizing the importance of public-private partnership to improve the quality of clinical care.
format	article
author	Yock Ping Chow Brenda Huey Zien Chin Jin Ming Loo Loshini R Moorthy Jamuna Jairaman Lian Huat Tan Wendy Wan Ying Tay
author_facet	Yock Ping Chow Brenda Huey Zien Chin Jin Ming Loo Loshini R Moorthy Jamuna Jairaman Lian Huat Tan Wendy Wan Ying Tay
author_sort	Yock Ping Chow
title	Clinical and epidemiological characteristics of patients seeking COVID-19 testing in a private centre in Malaysia: Is there a role for private healthcare in battling the outbreak?
title_short	Clinical and epidemiological characteristics of patients seeking COVID-19 testing in a private centre in Malaysia: Is there a role for private healthcare in battling the outbreak?
title_full	Clinical and epidemiological characteristics of patients seeking COVID-19 testing in a private centre in Malaysia: Is there a role for private healthcare in battling the outbreak?
title_fullStr	Clinical and epidemiological characteristics of patients seeking COVID-19 testing in a private centre in Malaysia: Is there a role for private healthcare in battling the outbreak?
title_full_unstemmed	Clinical and epidemiological characteristics of patients seeking COVID-19 testing in a private centre in Malaysia: Is there a role for private healthcare in battling the outbreak?
title_sort	clinical and epidemiological characteristics of patients seeking covid-19 testing in a private centre in malaysia: is there a role for private healthcare in battling the outbreak?
publisher	Public Library of Science (PLoS)
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/7f26aaececc84b3cb8a5f8838b1b00aa
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Clinical and epidemiological characteristics of patients seeking COVID-19 testing in a private centre in Malaysia: Is there a role for private healthcare in battling the outbreak?

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