In contrast to prior reports, no significant differences were found based on race and ethnicity when adjusting for other factors such as age, gender, comorbid medical conditions and weight. Those at Mount Sinai Queens, however, were more likely to have more severe forms of the disease and require intubation than Manhattan or Brooklyn patients.

"These findings underscore how COVID-19, despite its many manifestations, is largely a respiratory illness and the lung changes identifiable on X-ray are a primary predictor of disease progression," said senior author Dr. Adam Bernheim, assistant professor of diagnostic, molecular and interventional radiology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, in a statement. "This work is foundational for demonstrating the role of radiology not only in diagnosis, but also in predicting, triaging, and risk-stratifying COVID-19 patients so that those at highest risk for severe disease can be immediately identified from the moment of the very first chest X-ray upon presentation."


Cardiothoracic radiologists at Mount Sinai are currently using the scoring system in clinical practice.

The BioMedical Engineering and Imaging Institute at Mount Sinai also contributed to the research.

The findings were published in the journal, Radiology.

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