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. 2021 Nov 2;16(11):e0250541.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0250541. eCollection 2021.

The seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 during the first wave in Europe 2020: A systematic review

Natasha Marcella Vaselli  1 , Daniel Hungerford  1   2   3 , Ben Shenton  1 , Arwa Khashkhusha  4 , Nigel A Cunliffe  1   2 , Neil French  1   3
Affiliations

The seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 during the first wave in Europe 2020: A systematic review

Natasha Marcella Vaselli et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

Background: A year following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, new infections and deaths continue to increase in Europe. Serological studies, through providing evidence of past infection, can aid understanding of the population dynamics of SARS-CoV-2 infection.

Objectives: This systematic review of SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence studies in Europe was undertaken to inform public health strategies including vaccination, that aim to accelerate population immunity.

Methods: We searched the databases Web of Science, MEDLINE, EMBASE, SCOPUS, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews and grey literature sources for studies reporting seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in Europe published between 01/12/2019-30/09/20. We provide a narrative synthesis of included studies. Studies were categorized into subgroups including healthcare workers (HCWs), community, outbreaks, pregnancy and children/school. Due to heterogeneity in other subgroups, we only performed a random effects meta-analysis of the seroprevalence amongst HCWs stratified by their country.

Results: 115 studies were included spanning 17 European countries, that estimated the seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 from samples obtained between November 2019 -August 2020. A total of 54/115 studies included HCWs with a reported seroprevalence among HCWs ranging from 0.7% to 45.3%, which did not differ significantly by country. In community studies significant heterogeneity was reported in the seroprevalence between different age groups and the majority of studies reported there was no significant difference by gender.

Conclusion: This review demonstrates a wide heterogeneity in reported seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies between populations. Continued evaluation of seroprevalence is required to understand the impact of public health measures and inform interventions including vaccination programmes.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1. PRISMA flow chart.
Fig 2
Fig 2. Seroprevalence of subgroups over time.
(A): the seroprevalence of HCWs by country over time. (B): the seroprevalence of HCWs over time stratified by risk group. (C): the seroprevalence of community studies over time by country. (D): the seroprevalence of outbreak studies over time stratified by country and subgroup.
Fig 3
Fig 3. Forest plot of the seroprevalence among HCWs stratified by country.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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