Open AccessAssessment of Oropharyngeal Specimens for Discontinuation of Transmission-Based COVID-19 Precautions
Author(s) -
Joshua A. Barocas,
Miriam Komaromy,
Deeanna Haidar,
Tamar F. Barlam,
Beverley Orr,
Nancy S. Miller
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
open forum infectious diseases
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.546
H-Index - 35
ISSN - 2328-8957
DOI - 10.1093/ofid/ofaa382
Subject(s) - medicine , covid-19 , discontinuation , predictive value , kappa , isolation (microbiology) , positive predicative value , transmission (telecommunications) , virology , outbreak , microbiology and biotechnology , biology , infectious disease (medical specialty) , disease , linguistics , philosophy , electrical engineering , engineering
We compared oropharyngeal swab test performance with nasopharyngeal testing for discontinuation of transmission-based COVID-19 precautions. We performed a retrospective review of confirmed COVID-19-positive patients who received paired nasopharyngeal and oropharyngeal SARS-CoV-2 tests for clearance from isolation from May 4, 2020, to May 26, 2020. Using nasopharyngeal swabs as the reference standard, we calculated the sensitivity, specificity, and negative predictive value of oropharyngeal swabs. We also calculated the kappa between the 2 tests. A total of 189 paired samples were collected from 74 patients. Oropharyngeal swab sensitivity was 38%, specificity was 87%, and negative predictive value was 70%. The kappa was 0.25. Our study suggests that oropharyngeal swabs are inferior to nasopharyngeal swabs for test-based clearance from COVID-19 isolation.
Accelerating Research
Robert Robinson Avenue,
Oxford Science Park, Oxford
OX4 4GP, United Kingdom
Address
John Eccles HouseRobert Robinson Avenue,
Oxford Science Park, Oxford
OX4 4GP, United Kingdom