December 3, 2020

Simple Questionnaires to Improve Pooling Strategies for SARS-CoV-2 Laboratory Testing

Category: Article Summary

Topic: Testing and Treatment

Keywords (Tags): testing

• Questionnaire-based risk stratification could further enhance the efficiency of pooling strategies for SARS-CoV-2 lab testing. Schneitler et al. pooled samples using responses to a short questionnaire about clinical symptoms, travel history, and contact with people with confirmed COVID-19. In a sample (n=25,978) with overall SARS-CoV-2 prevalence of 0.9%, randomly pooled samples had higher pool positivity and individual SARS-CoV-2 prevalence than questionnaire-based pooled samples (14.6% vs 1.2% and 3.4% vs 0.1%, respectively). An individual participant result needed an average of 0.27 PCR tests with random pooling compared to 0.09 tests with questionnaire-based pooling, translating to a lab capacity increase of 73% for random pooling and 91% for questionnaire-based pooling, compared to single PCR testing.

Schneitler et al. (Nov 18, 2020). Simple Questionnaires to Improve Pooling Strategies for SARS-CoV-2 Laboratory Testing. Annals of Global Health. https://doi.org/10.5334/aogh.3126