This study investigates the clinical and imaging characteristics of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) patients with false‐negative nucleic acids. Mild‐to‐moderate COVID‐19 patients, including 19 cases of nucleic acid false‐negative patients and 31 cases of nucleic acid positive patients, were enrolled. Their epidemiological, clinical, and laboratory examination data and imaging characteristics were analyzed. Risk factors for false negatives were discussed. Compared with the nucleic acid positive group, the false‐negative group had less epidemiological exposure (52.6% vs 83.9%; P = .025), less chest discomfort (5.3% vs 32.3%; P = .035), and faster recovery (10 [8, 13] vs 15 [11, 18.5] days; P = .005). The number of involved lung lobes was (2 [1, 2.5] vs 3 [2, 4] days; P = .004), and the lung damage severity score was (3 [2.5, 4.5] vs 5 [4, 9] days; P = .007), which was lighter in the nucleic acid false‐negative group. Thus, the absence of epidemiological exposure may be a potential risk factor for false‐negative nucleic acids. The false‐negative cases of COVID‐19 are worth noting because they have a risk of viral transmission without positive test results, lighter clinical manifestations, and less history of epidemiological exposure.

中文翻译：

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SARS-CoV-2核酸假阴性的轻中度COVID-19患者的临床特征和危险因素。


本研究调查了 2019 年冠状病毒病（COVID-19）核酸假阴性患者的临床和影像学特征。纳入轻中度COVID-19患者，其中核酸假阴性患者19例，核酸阳性患者31例。对他们的流行病学、临床和实验室检查数据以及影像学特征进行分析。讨论了假阴性的风险因素。与核酸阳性组相比，假阴性组的流行病学暴露较少（52.6% vs 83.9%； P = .025），胸部不适较少（5.3% vs 32.3%； P = .035），恢复速度更快（ 10 [8, 13] 与 15 [11, 18.5] 天； P = .005)。受累肺叶数量为（2 [1, 2.5] vs 3 [2, 4] 天； P = .004），肺损伤严重程度评分为（3 [2.5, 4.5] vs 5 [4, 9]天； P = .007），核酸假阴性组较轻。因此，缺乏流行病学暴露可能是核酸假阴性的潜在危险因素。 COVID-19假阴性病例值得注意，因为它们在检测结果不呈阳性的情况下存在病毒传播的风险，临床表现较轻，流行病学接触史较少。