Although most people affected by COVID-19 now experience mild symptoms and recover within weeks, the global pandemic caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus remains a major health concern. Some affected people eventually develop more severe disease and pneumonia, which often carries a worse prognosis.
Although protocols have been developed Assess patient riskdiagnostic and prognostic tools are mainly based on imaging methods Expensive and difficult to obtain, such as X-ray, ultrasound or computed tomography (CT).Therefore, there is a need to develop a The simplest and most accessible forecasting tool This allows healthcare providers to identify patients who have developed or are at risk of serious disease. This way, Convenient patient triage and early intervention even at home or in primary care centres.
Now, a research group led by meBEC and Delmar Hospital,cooperate with Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC), CIBER-BBN and CIBERESa study was conducted on the basis of analysis and interpretation Coughing sound in the initial stages of COVID-19.The method is considered a potential, simple and easy-to-use predictive tool Assessing the risk of severe pneumonia.
The research is from Recording with smartphone voluntary coughing sound 70 patients sickened by SARS-CoV-2 infection Within the first 24 hours after you arrive at the hospital. IBEC’s acoustic analysis of these recordings allowed us to discover Significant differences between sounds The number of patients depends on Severity of respiratory pathologywhich has been previously confirmed by imaging studies and requires Supplemental oxygen.The results show that the analysis can classify COVID-19 patients into mild, moderate or severe And follow up on patients who are persistently infected with the new coronavirus.The work was carried out using data collected at Hospital del Mar from April 2020 to May 2021, and the results have been published in the journal European Respiratory Journal Open Research.
Cough frequency: a key parameter
Raymond Janney, He is a professor at UPC, principal investigator at IBEC and CIBER-BBN, and leads the data processing and interpretation group. biomedical logo IBEC (BIOSPIN), developed methods and algorithms for acoustic analysis acquired cough symptoms with smartphone.Using a statistical model called a linear mixed model, the team found five parametersthere are significant differences in coughs among patients with different disease severity and degrees, based on sound frequency The evolution of pneumonia.Therefore, these differences may reflect gradual change Respiratory system of COVID-19 patients.
“Although it has been suggested in the past Acoustic Analysis Methods The relationship between the acoustic characteristics of a cough and the diagnosis of respiratory diseases We would like to go one step further and specifically explore the relationship between the acoustic characteristics of a cough and the diagnosis of respiratory diseases. different severity Incidence of pneumonia in patients with COVID-19. “Details from Jané, senior co-author of the study.
The study’s authors explain that coughing can do the following: detect early Monitoring and evaluating disease progression of severe COVID-19 patients Complications can occur even at long distances.However, data from a larger number of patients must now be continued to confirm the results of this cross-sectional study, which will enable cough analysis to be used as Diagnostic tools for patients with COVID-19 or other respiratory illnesses.
For this reason, doctors Joaquim GaiaThe study’s senior co-author said his conclusions “may be useful in the following areas:” Medical infrastructure is inadequate or in an emergency situationto help promptly identify and isolate COVID-19 patients, promote appropriate medical care and Implement control measures“.
Another factor worth noting is that although the study focuses on COVID-19, it opens the door to using the model in other areas. Other respiratory diseases.
fountain：IBEC/DICYT