Utility of the antigen test for coronavirus disease 2019: Factors influencing the prediction of the possibility of disease transmission

• DOI: 10.1016/j.ijid.2020.12.079
• Publication Date: 2021-01-02T06:41:27Z
• Authors: Kei Yamamoto; Michiyo Suzuki; Gen Yamada; Tsutomu Sudo; Hidetoshi Nomoto; Noriko Kinoshita; Keiji Nakamura; Yoshie Tsujimoto; Yusaku Kusaba; Chie Morita; Ataru Moriya; Kenji Maeda; Shintaro Yagi; Motoi Kimura; Norio Ohmagari
• Keywords: Adult; Male; Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; SARS-CoV-2; COVID-19; Antigen test; Infectious and parasitic diseases; RC109-216; Middle Aged; Article; 3. Good health; COVID-19 Testing; Estimating transmissibility; Humans; Appropriate timing for antigen test; Female; Antigens, Viral; Aged; Retrospective Studies

Rapid antigen testing (RAT) for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has lower sensitivity but high accuracy during the early stage when compared to reverse transcription quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR). The aim of this study was to investigate the concordance between RAT and RT-qPCR results, and their prediction of disease transmission.This single-center retrospective observational study of inpatients with COVID-19 was conducted from March 6 to June 14, 2020. Nasopharyngeal swabs were used to perform RAT and RT-qPCR. The primary endpoint was concordance between RAT and RT-qPCR results. The secondary endpoints were the factors causing disagreement in the results and the estimated transmissibility in RT-qPCR-positive patients with mild symptoms.Overall, 229 samples in viral transport medium (VTM) were obtained from 105 patients. The positive and negative concordance rates for VTM were 41% vs 99% (κ = 0.37) and 72% vs 100% (κ = 0.50) for samples collected on disease days 2-9. An increased body temperature (odds ratio 0.54) and absence of drugs with potential antiviral effect (odds ratio 0.48) yielded conflicting results. RAT was associated with the ability to end isolation (OR 0.11, 95% confidence interval 0.20-0.61).RAT and RT-qPCR results were highly consistent for samples collected at the appropriate time and could be useful for inferring the possibility of transmissibility.