Risk Tool Predicts Which COVID-19 Patients Will Become Critically Ill; Here’s What You Need to Know

A study published in JAMA Internal Medicine shares news of a risk assessment tool that is purported to predict which patients with COVID-19 will become severely ill. Derived from research at The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University in Guangzhou, China, and reflecting data from 1,590 patients with COVID-19 who were hospitalized between February 20 and March 17, 2020, the tool uses 10 variables readily available at the time of hospital admission—many of which would also be discovered in an urgent care presentation, possibly giving the urgent care provider insights into a patient’s likely path with the disease. The COVID-GRAM, as the tool is being called, takes into account chest x-ray abnormality, age, hemoptysis, dyspnea, unconsciousness, number of comorbidities, cancer history, neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio, lactate dehydrogenase, and direct bilirubin. The tool has been translated into an online risk calculator and is available here at no cost.