Diagnostic Accuracy of Chest X-ray in Coronavirus Disease 2019

The pandemic related to the coronavirus is now considered one of the deadliest epidemics. The numbers of cases exponentially increased with no specific treatment, creating havoc for the health and financial systems of the world [1-6]. Wuhan, the capital city of Hubei in China, reported the earliest cases that were treated as an unusual pneumonia. With the disease progression, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced the presence of several similar cases [7, 8]. Researchers revealed that a novel strain of the family Coronaviridae is the pathogen responsible for the respiratory illness of this disease and this is simulating two previous epidemics, namely MERS (Middle Eastern respiratory syndrome) and SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome). The disease induced by SARS-CoV-2 was labelled as COVID-19 by the International Classification of Diseases (ICD) [9]. Chest radiographs are usually of limited value in the diagnosis of early stages especially in mild disease course; however, the CT findings may be present early even before the onset of the symptoms. Chest radiographs is very helpful in the intermediate to advanced stages of COVID-19 with features of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) as well as the follow-up [10-11]. This study to determine the COVID-19 disease course and severity using chest X-ray (CXR) scoring system and correlate these with patients' age, sex, and outcome.