Evidence map›Paper›PMID 34826762›Full record

ArticleForensic science international2022

Is it COVID-19? The value of medicolegal autopsies during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Rachel L Geller, Jenna L Aungst, Anna Newton-Levinson, Geoffrey P Smith, Marina B Mosunjac, Mario I Mosunjac, Christy S Cunningham, Gerald T Gowitt

Open access · greenAbstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Forensic science international, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
0.5field-weighted citation impact, top 31% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed, 8 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

8 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.

Rachel L GellerDeKalb County Medical Examiner's Office, Decatur, GA, USA; Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, USA. Electronic address: rgeller@dekalbcountyga.gov.
Jenna L AungstDeKalb County Medical Examiner's Office, Decatur, GA, USA.
Anna Newton-LevinsonEmory Rollins School of Public Health, Atlanta, GA, USA.
Geoffrey P SmithDeKalb County Medical Examiner's Office, Decatur, GA, USA.
Marina B MosunjacEmory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, USA.
Mario I MosunjacEmory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, USA.
Christy S CunninghamDeKalb County Medical Examiner's Office, Decatur, GA, USA.
Gerald T GowittDeKalb County Medical Examiner's Office, Decatur, GA, USA.
DeKalb County Board of Health · USEmory University · US

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

objectivesWe describe the experience of a busy metropolitan medical examiner's office in the United States and share our navigation of the COVID-19 autopsy decision-making process. We describe key gross and microscopic findings that, with appropriate laboratory testing, should direct a pathologist towards a COVID-19-related cause of death. MATERIAL AND

methodsWe performed a retrospective review of 258 suspected and/or confirmed COVID-19 associated deaths that occurred between March 5, 2020, and March 4, 2021.

resultsA total of 62 cases due to fatal COVID-19 were identified; autopsy findings included diffuse alveolar damage, acute bronchopneumonia and lobar pneumonia, and pulmonary thromboemboli. Nine additional decedents had a nasopharyngeal swab positive for SARS-CoV-2 and a cause of death unrelated to COVID-19. Forty-seven cases with COVID-19-like symptoms showed no laboratory or histopathologic evidence of SARS-CoV-2 infection; the most common causes of death in this group were hypertensive or atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, complications of chronic alcoholism, and pulmonary thromboemboli unrelated to infection.

conclusionsThe clinical findings associated with COVID-19 are not specific; a broad differential diagnosis should be embraced when decedents present with cough or shortness of breath. An autopsy may be indicated to identify a cause of death unrelated to COVID-19.

Indexed as

AutopsyAdolescentAdultAgedAged, 80 and overCause of DeathCOVID-19FemaleHumansLungMaleMiddle AgedPandemicsPulmonary EmbolismRetrospective StudiesSARS-CoV-2AutopsyCOVID-19MortalityRetrospectiveSARS-CoV-2

Identifiers

PMID34826762
PMCPMC8590613
OpenAlexW3212661745

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.