Specificity and positive predictive value of SARS-CoV-2 nucleic acid amplification testing in a low-prevalence setting.

ABSTRACT:

Objectives

When the prevalence of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is low, many positive test results are false positives. Confirmatory testing reduces overdiagnosis and nosocomial infection and enables real-world estimates of test specificity and positive predictive value. This study estimates these parameters to evaluate the impact of confirmatory testing and to improve clinical diagnosis, epidemiological estimation and interpretation of vaccine trials.

Methods

Over 1 month we took all respiratory samples from our laboratory with a patient's first detection of SARS-CoV-2 RNA (Hologic Aptima SARS-CoV-2 assay or in-house RT-PCR platform), and repeated testing using two platforms. Samples were categorized by source, and by whether clinical details

SUBMITTER: Skittrall JP 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7554481 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature