Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2022;30(11):2649-2656.
doi: 10.1007/s10389-021-01478-1. Epub 2021 Feb 23.

Incubation period for COVID-19: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Balram Rai  1 , Anandi Shukla  1 , Laxmi Kant Dwivedi  1
Affiliations
Review

Incubation period for COVID-19: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Balram Rai et al. Z Gesundh Wiss. 2022.

Abstract

Aim: This study aims to conduct a review of the existing literature about incubation period for COVID-19, which can provide insights to the transmission dynamics of the disease.

Methods: A systematic review followed by meta-analysis was performed for the studies providing estimates for the incubation period of COVID-19. The heterogeneity and bias in the included studies were tested by various statistical measures, including I2 statistic, Cochran's Q test, Begg's test and Egger's test.

Results: Fifteen studies with 16 estimates of the incubation period were selected after implementing the inclusion and exclusion criteria. The pooled estimate of the incubation period is 5.74 (5.18, 6.30) from the random effects model. The heterogeneity in the selected studies was found to be 95.2% from the I2 statistic. There is no potential bias in the included studies for meta-analysis.

Conclusion: This review provides sufficient evidence for the incubation period of COVID-19 through various studies, which can be helpful in planning preventive and control measures for the disease. The pooled estimate from the meta-analysis is a valid and reliable estimate of the incubation period for COVID-19.

Keywords: COVID-19; Epidemiology; Incubation period; Infectious disease; Meta-analysis; Systematic review.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of interestAll the authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Progression of COVID-19 in a host/infected person
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Flow chart for the selection of studies in systematic review and meta-analysis
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Forest plot for the meta-analysis of incubation period for COVID-19
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
Funnel plot with a 95% confidence interval for included studies in the meta-analysis
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Ahrens W, Pigeot I, editors. Handbook of epidemiology. New York: Springer; 2014.
    1. Alsofayan YM, Althunayyan SM, Khan AA, Hakawi AM, Assiri AM. Clinical characteristics of COVID-19 in Saudi Arabia: a national retrospective study. J Infect Public Health. 2020;3(7):920–925. doi: 10.1016/j.jiph.2020.05.026. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Backer JA, Klinkenberg D, Wallinga J. Incubation period of 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) infections among travellers from Wuhan, China, 20–28 January 2020. Eurosurveillance. 2020;25(5):2000062. doi: 10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2020.25.5.2000062. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Borenstein M, Hedges L, Rothstein H (2007) Meta-analysis: fixed effect vs random effects. Meta-analysis.com. Retrieved from https://www.meta-analysis.com/downloads/Meta-analysis%20fixed%20effect%2.... Accessed on 5 June 2020
    1. Brookmeyer R. Incubation period of infectious diseases. Encyclopedia of biostatistics, vol 3. New York: Wiley; 1998. pp. 2011–2016.

LinkOut - more resources