Research ArticleOriginal Research

Incidental Chest Radiographic Findings in Adult Patients With Acute Cough

Saskia van Vugt, Lidewij Broekhuizen, Nicolaas Zuithoff, Pim de Jong, Christopher Butler, Kerenza Hood, Samuel Coenen, Herman Goossens, Paul Little, Jordi Almirall, Francesco Blasi, Slawomir Chlabicz, Mel Davies, Maciek Godycki-Cwirko, Helena Hupkova, Janko Kersnik, Arthur Mierzecki, Sigvard Mölstad, Michael Moore, Tom Schaberg, An De Sutter, Antoni Torres, Pia Touboul, Theo Verheij and On behalf of the GRACE Project Group
The Annals of Family Medicine November 2012, 10 (6) 510-515; DOI: https://doi.org/10.1370/afm.1384

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  • Supplemental Appendixes

    Supplemental Appendix 1. Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for the Assessment and Feedback of Chest Radiographs; Supplemental Appendix 2. Clinical Relevance, Defined by Clinical Judgment and Literature

    Files in this Data Supplement:

  • The Article in Brief

    Saskia van Vugt , and colleagues

    Background Imaging can sometimes produce unexpected or incidental findings that have consequences for patients and lead to further investigations. This study examines the type and prevalence of incidental chest radiography findings in primary care patients with acute cough.

    What This Study Found Clinically relevant incidental findings on chest radiographs in primary care adult patients with acute cough are uncommon. Researchers in the Netherlands analyzed 2,823 chest radiographs from patients consulting for acute cough in 16 different European primary care networks and found that although incidental findings were reported on 19 percent of patients, only 3% of those patients had clinically relevant incidental findings, including lung nodules and shadows. Notably, the frequency of the reporting of incidental findings varied dramatically between the different primary care networks, ranging from 0% to 3%.

    Implications

    • These findings can inform decisions about the appropriate threshold for ordering chest radiographs in primary care and guide clinicians in informing patients about the possibility of incidental findings.
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