Abstract

Introduction: After 2019 outbreak of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), it has become an international emergency. Patients with mild disease generally present with fever, dry cough, and malaise but severe disease may lead to persistent airway and lung damage leading to respiratory failure and death. There is currently no specific treatment for severe COVID-19 patients, so early diagnosis is a must. Chest computed tomography (CT) has been widely practiced as a non-invasive tool for lung condition assessment. The present study aims to correlate clinical severity with HRCT thorax findings among COVID-19 patients in tertiary care centre of Belagavi, Karnataka. Material and Method: This cross-sectional study was conducted on COVID-19 patients admitted at KLES Dr. Prabhakar Kore Hospital, Belagavi from January 2021 to December 2021. After taking ethical clearance and applying exclusion criteria, a total of 100 COVID patients were included in the study. The diagnosis of COVID-19 was based on RT-PCR, CBNAAT or Rapid antigen test of nasal and pharyngeal swab specimens. All confirmed cases of COVID-19 were referred for HRCT chest evaluation. After obtaining informed consent, patients were subjected to thorough history taking and clinical examination. Clinical severity of the patients is noted and it is compared with CT severity score. Statistical analysis was done by SPSS software using descriptive analysis and chi-square test. A p-value<0.05 was considered to be statistically significant.

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