Trauma and COVID-19: Clinical and Paraclinical similarities between Trauma Patients with Positive and Negative PCR Tests

Objective: to compare clinical and paraclinical similarities between trauma patients with positive rt-pcr tests (pcr+ve) and the rt-pcr negative ones (pcr -ve). methods: this a case-control study, where cases had a pcr+ve and controls had a negative result. two groups were compared regarding (para) clinical values. multivariable binary logistic regression analysis investigated the variables predicting covid-19 and the mortality rate. results: both groups were similar regarding the clinical findings and comorbidities (p>0.05). pcr +ve group had lower lymphocyte count (1.41 [1.45] vs. 1.66 [1.61], p=0.030), cpk level (411 [928.75] vs. 778 [1946.5]. p=0.006) and crp level (17 [42.5] vs. 24 [50.75], p=0.004). however, none of these findings were significant in the multivariable analysis. finally, pcr+ve group had increased odds of death (or=2.88; 95% ci=1.22-7.41). conclusion: unlike our primary hypothesis, the study failed to mark any significant (para) clinical features guiding us to detect covid-19 earlier in trauma patients. moreover, the pcr+ve group is at increased mortality risk. a larger, multicentric prospective study should be designed to address this issue.