Novel test can identify patients at risk of severe COVID-19

Patients would benefit from the test through closer monitoring and advanced therapies to aid their recovery.

Scientists in the US have developed a new genomic test that can predict a patient's risk of developing severe COVID-19, an advance that could help doctors quickly begin tailored treatment.

The test proved over 90 per cent accurate at predicting patient outcomes for COVID-19 among over two dozen patients in intensive care and 100 patients from publicly available data, the researchers said.

The test, called CovGENE, analyses genes expressed in a person's blood to determine whether they may experience a severe disease course with increased risk of death, they said.

"We have come far in the prevention and treatment of COVID-19 in the past two years. Regardless, we still struggle to identify patients at highest risk for severe disease," said Alexandra Kadl, from the University of Virginia, US.

"Our study uses a gene-analysis approach to identify an immune cell signature, distinct from other respiratory illnesses, that correlates with worse outcomes," Kadl said in a statement.

Also Read: Memory problems during the pandemic? It’s just your brain trying to distinguish one day from the next

The approach, described recently in the journal Frontiers in Immunology, has the potential to help evaluate patients' immune profile with commonly, readily available tests to identify patients at risk for bad outcomes.