Avoiding Anchoring Bias in the Times of the Pandemic!

Zohaib Yousaf; Mohammed Yaseen Ahmed Siddiqui; Kamran Mushtaq; Sayeda Efath Feroz; Shady Abou Kammar; Mohamed Gaafer Hussein Mohamedali; Haseeb Chaudhary

doi:10.1159/000509345

Avoiding Anchoring Bias in the Times of the Pandemic!

Case Rep Neurol. 2020 Oct 9;12(3):359-364. doi: 10.1159/000509345. eCollection 2020 Sep-Dec.

Authors

Zohaib Yousaf¹, Mohammed Yaseen Ahmed Siddiqui¹, Kamran Mushtaq², Sayeda Efath Feroz¹, Shady Abou Kammar³, Mohamed Gaafer Hussein Mohamedali¹, Haseeb Chaudhary⁴

Affiliations

¹ Medicine, Hamad Medical Corporation, Doha, Qatar.
² Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Hamad Medical Corporation, Doha, Qatar.
³ Infectious Disease, Hamad Medical Corporation, Doha, Qatar.
⁴ Medicine, Reading Hospital, Tower Health Medical group, West Reading, Pennsylvania, USA.

Abstract

COVID-19 has a broad spectrum of clinical presentations, including central nervous system manifestations that are not uncommon. The high pretest probability of COVID-19 in pandemic can lead to anchoring. We present a patient of COVID-19 pneumonia who presented with dyspnea and acute confusional state. His initial workup was suggestive of tuberculous meningoencephalitis with lymphocytic pleocytosis, high protein in CSF analysis, and suspicious MRI findings, which was later confirmed with a positive CSF culture. To the best of our knowledge, it is the first such case. Anchoring to the diagnosis of COVID-19 may deter clinicians from considering other concurrent diagnoses and a poor outcome consequently.

Keywords: COVID-19; Meningoencephalitis; SARS-CoV-2; Tuberculoma; Tuberculosis.

Publication types

Case Reports