Developments, Evolution, and Implications of National Diagnostic Criteria for COVID-19 in China

Lin-Lu Ma; Bui-Hui Li; Ying-Hui Jin; Tong Deng; Xue-Qun Ren; Xian-Tao Zeng

doi:10.3389/fmed.2020.00242

Developments, Evolution, and Implications of National Diagnostic Criteria for COVID-19 in China

Front Med (Lausanne). 2020 May 15:7:242. doi: 10.3389/fmed.2020.00242. eCollection 2020.

Authors

Lin-Lu Ma¹, Bui-Hui Li^{1

2}, Ying-Hui Jin¹, Tong Deng², Xue-Qun Ren², Xian-Tao Zeng¹

Affiliations

¹ Center for Evidence-Based and Translational Medicine, Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University, Wuhan, China.
² Institute of Evidence-Based Medicine and Knowledge Translation, Henan University, Kaifeng, China.

Abstract

Recently WHO has characterized COVID-19 as a pandemic. Diagnosing the disease accurately and decreasing misdiagnoses and missed diagnoses is very important for management. Therefore, we have analyzed the seven versions of China's national guidelines to examine how the diagnostic criteria roadmap has developed and evolved, in order to share our experience worldwide. In this article, we present the developments from the first to seventh versions, involving changes of case classification, changes to "suspected case," changes in "confirmed case," changes in clinical classifications, changes in "severe case," and unchanged criteria. We have also discussed the reasons and implications for these changes and are looking forward to providing suggestions for worldwide understanding and management of this pandemic. A nucleic acid test is currently accepted as the gold standard method to confirm diagnosis. In addition, imaging examination and epidemiological history should also be considered as auxiliary diagnosis methods.

Keywords: 2019-nCoV; COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; diagnosis; guideline.