August 27, 2020

Rapid, Point-of-Care Antigen and Molecular-Based Tests for Diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2 Infection

Category: Article Summary

Topic: Testing and Treatment

Keywords (Tags): review, testing

• A Cochrane review of rapid tests for SARS-CoV-2 infection (18 cohorts,3,198 samples) evaluated the diagnostic accuracy of five point-of-care antigen tests and four rapid molecular assays. They report the average sensitivity of antigen tests was 56% (95%CI 30-80%) and specificity was 99% (98-100%) based on five studies with 943 samples. The average sensitivity of rapid molecular assays was 95% (87-98%) and specificity was 99% (97-99%) based on 11 studies with 2,255 samples. However, they judged patient selection to be at high risk of bias in half of the studies due to over-sampling of patients with confirmed COVID-19.

Dinnes et al. (Aug 26, 2020). Rapid, Point-of-Care Antigen and Molecular-Based Tests for Diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2 Infection. The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. https://doi.org/10.1002/14651858.CD013705