Alliance for Pandemic Preparedness

April 21, 2020

False-Negative Results of Initial RT-PCR Assays for COVID-19: A Systematic Review

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  • Arevalo-Rodriguez et al reviewed available evidence on false-negative RT-PRC results when testing for SARS-CoV-2 using 5 studies enrolling 957 patients in total. 
  • While cautious in interpretation due to potential bias and heterogeneity of findings, the authors report the pooled false-negative proportion of 0.085 (95% CI= 0.034-0.196) and reinforce the need for repeated testing in patients with suspicion of SARS-CoV-2 infection.

Arevalo-Rodriguez et al. (April 21, 2020). False-Negative Results of Initial RT-PCR Assays for COVID-19: A Systematic Review. Pre-print downloaded Apr 21 from https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.04.16.20066787