Performance of six rapid diagnostic tests for SARS-CoV-2 antigen detection and implications for practical use.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Direct detection of SARS-CoV-2 viral proteins in nasopharyngeal swabs using lateral flow immunoassays is a simple, fast and cheap approach to diagnose the infection.

Aims and methods

The performance of 6 SARS-CoV-2 antigen rapid diagnostic tests has been assessed in 634 hospitalized patients or outpatients including 297 patients found to be positive for SARS-CoV-2 RNA by means of RT-PCR and 337 patients presumed to be SARS-CoV-2 RNA-negative.

Results

The specificity of SARS-CoV-2 RDTs was generally high (398.5%). One assay had a lower specificity of 93.2%. The overall sensitivity of the 6 RDTs was variable, from 32.3% to 61.7%. Sensitivity correlated with the delay of sampling after the onset of symptoms and the viral load estimated by the Ct value in RT-PC

SUBMITTER: Fourati S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8310570 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature