January 15, 2021

Comparison of Saliva and Nasopharyngeal Swab Nucleic Acid Amplification Testing for Detection of SARS-CoV-2: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Category: Article Summary

Topic: Testing and Treatment

Keywords (Tags): testing

A systematic review and meta-analysis of 16 studies comparing the accuracy of saliva nucleic acid amplification testing (NAAT) to nasopharyngeal swab NAAT found that the two methods yielded comparable results. The sensitivity of saliva NAAT was 83% compared to 85% for nasopharyngeal NAAT. Both tests had a specificity of 99%. The authors suggest that the superior ease and comfort of collecting saliva samples may make it an attractive alternative to nasopharyngeal swabs to support large-scale testing.

Butler-Laporte et al. (Jan 15, 2021). Comparison of Saliva and Nasopharyngeal Swab Nucleic Acid Amplification Testing for Detection of SARS-CoV-2: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. JAMA Internal Medicine. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama//internmed.2020.8876