Invasive mould disease in fatal COVID-19: a systematic review of autopsies

  1. Brittany E Kula
  2. Cornelius J Clancy
  3. M Hong Nguyen
  4. Ilan S Schwartz

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Abstract

No abstract available

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  1. Version published to 10.1016/s2666-5247(21)00091-4
  2. ScreenIT

    SciScore for 10.1101/2021.01.13.21249761: (What is this?)

    Please note, not all rigor criteria are appropriate for all manuscripts.

    Table 1: Rigor

    Institutional Review Board Statementnot detected.
    Randomizationnot detected.
    BlindingMinimally invasive included any autopsy in which multiple lung tissue samples from each lobe were obtained either blindly or through ultrasound guidance; this practice has been applied frequently in COVID-19 to limit occupational exposures at the time of autopsy.
    Power Analysisnot detected.
    Sex as a biological variablenot detected.

    Table 2: Resources

    Software and Algorithms
    SentencesResources
    We identified possible studies by searching PubMed, Web of Science, OVID (Embase) and MedRxiv for articles published from January 1, 2019 to September 26, 2020.
    PubMed
    suggested: (PubMed, RRID:SCR_004846)
    Embase
    suggested: (EMBASE, RRID:SCR_001650)
    COVIDENCE was used for abstract management (Veritas Health Innovation, Melbourne, Australia available at www.covidence.org).
    COVIDENCE
    suggested: (Covidence, RRID:SCR_016484)

    Results from OddPub: We did not detect open data. We also did not detect open code. Researchers are encouraged to share open data when possible (see Nature blog).

    Results from LimitationRecognizer: We detected the following sentences addressing limitations in the study:
    Despite these strengths, there are several limitations of this study that should be considered. First, we only included studies published in English or French, and it is possible that excluded studies could have contributed further data. Second, we were confronted with limited patient information from most reports. Use of antifungals was not commonly reported, and we cannot be sure whether this reflects incomplete data or low rates of prescribing. Antifungal use could have reduced the sensitivity of IMD detection on autopsy. The use of immunomodulators was also incompletely reported. While this would be unlikely to affect the main findings, this data could be helpful in the understanding of risk of tissue-proven IMD associated with these therapies. Third, although our review was exhaustive, the sample size is very small compared the total number of COVID-19 deaths internationally; most decedents were included from just three countries (US, Germany, Italy) and geographic variation in incidence of IMD following COVID-19 may occur (as it does following influenza).75 Fourth, while the use of minimally invasive autopsy strategies for COVID-19 have been validated,25,33,76 random sampling rather than whole lung examination may have led to under-diagnosis of IMD; it is re-assuring, however, that the majority of our included cases were performed with standard technique. In conclusion, autopsy-proven IMD is uncommonly reported among decedents with COVID-19. In order to further our unde...

    Results from TrialIdentifier: No clinical trial numbers were referenced.

    Results from Barzooka: We did not find any issues relating to the usage of bar graphs.

    Results from JetFighter: We did not find any issues relating to colormaps.

    Results from rtransparent:
    • Thank you for including a conflict of interest statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
    • Thank you for including a funding statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
    • No protocol registration statement was detected.

    About SciScore

    SciScore is an automated tool that is designed to assist expert reviewers by finding and presenting formulaic information scattered throughout a paper in a standard, easy to digest format. SciScore checks for the presence and correctness of RRIDs (research resource identifiers), and for rigor criteria such as sex and investigator blinding. For details on the theoretical underpinning of rigor criteria and the tools shown here, including references cited, please follow this link.

  3. Version published to 10.1101/2021.01.13.21249761v1 on medRxiv