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- Page navigation anchor for Diagnosing community-acquired pneumonia via a smartphone-based algorithm: a prospective cohort study in primary and acute-care consultations.Diagnosing community-acquired pneumonia via a smartphone-based algorithm: a prospective cohort study in primary and acute-care consultations.
With pleasure we read the article of Porter et al.1 We agree, telemedicine is of increasing value in primary care. Nonetheless, while reading some questions arose.
The article suggests the opportunity for the use of the smartphone-based algorithm in a time of COVID-19. However, the study period was prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. Nowadays, COVID-19 is an important differential diagnosis in patients with respiratory symptoms. Therefore, these results might not be generalizable to the present. We would suggest to assess the performance of the algorithm within a time where COVID-19 is present.
With regard to generalisability, we question if the study design proves usefulness in the home environment or via telemedicine, since the study population presented themselves physically at the A&E. The performance of this algorithm in patients who do not visit the A&E but contact a physician through telemedicine is not studied. Theoretically, if the algorithm would induce overdiagnosis in the home environment, this could lead to overtreatment with antibiotics. Also, the definition of fever in the four patient-reported symptoms is unclear: does this refer only to measured fever or is feeling feverish an adequate substitute? Furthermore, for practical implementation we wondered if the algorithm is usable through other mobile devices with different (quality) microphones?
Lastly, we wondered why nine patients have been excluded in th...
Show MoreCompeting Interests: None declared.