Diagnostic accuracy of sinus tachycardia as an independent clinical indicator among different COVID-19 variants

Abstract

Background. The most common arrhythmia which have been reported frequently in COVID-19 patients is sinus tachy-cardia. As COVID-19 is usually misdiagnosed with other respiratory tract diseases, introduction of a rapid clinical indicator for out of proportional sinus tachycardia in the diagnosis of COVID-19 during the early viral replication stage is essential for better cost-effective use of resources.Objectives. This study was conducted to determine the diagnostic accuracy of sinus tachycardia as an independent indicator of COVID-19.Material and methods. This is a cross-sectional analytical study. It included 152 healthcare workers who fulfilled the inclusion criteria. Multiple logistic regression analysis was conducted to investigate the factors associated with COVID-19 among the entire study sample and among each group.Results. Among our participants, 32.9% were male, while 67.1% were female, with a mean age of 35.47 +/- 7.09 years. It was found that 51.3% of our sample were COVID-19 PCR positive, and the mean number of days of symptoms at presentation was 2.01 +/- 1.29. It was found that the prevalence of out of proportional sinus tachycardia among the participants diagnosed with COVID-19 in 2021 was triple that of the participants who were recruited in 2020 (61%, 26%, respectively). It was found that there was significant association between pulse rate and COVID-19, with gender, age, temperature or days of symptoms having no effect.Conclusions. The study highlights the diagnostic accuracy of sinus tachycardia as an independent indicator of COVID-19, especially the Omicron variant, as a higher pulse rate is associated with higher odds of having COVID-19