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
. 2022 Sep 21:10:980549.
doi: 10.3389/fped.2022.980549. eCollection 2022.

Diagnostic accuracy of SARS-CoV-2 rapid antigen test from self-collected anterior nasal swabs in children compared to rapid antigen test and RT-PCR from nasopharyngeal swabs collected by healthcare workers: A multicentric prospective study

Robert Cohen  1   2   3   4   5 , Camille Aupiais  6   7 , Anne Filleron  8 , Fabienne Cahn-Sellem  4 , Olivier Romain  4   9 , Stéphane Béchet  1   4 , Anne Auvrignon  4 , Christophe Batard  4 , Brigitte Virey  4 , Camille Jung  2   3 , Alexis Rybak  1   4   6   10 , Corinne Levy  1   2   3   4   5
Affiliations

Diagnostic accuracy of SARS-CoV-2 rapid antigen test from self-collected anterior nasal swabs in children compared to rapid antigen test and RT-PCR from nasopharyngeal swabs collected by healthcare workers: A multicentric prospective study

Robert Cohen et al. Front Pediatr. .

Abstract

Testing for SARS-CoV-2 is central to COVID-19 management. Rapid antigen test from self-collected anterior nasal swabs (SCANS-RAT) are often used in children but their performance have not been assessed in real-life. We aimed to compare this testing method to the two methods usually used: reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction from nasopharyngeal swabs collected by healthcare workers (HCW-PCR) and rapid antigen test from nasopharyngeal swabs collected by healthcare workers (HCW-RAT), estimating the accuracy and acceptance, in a pediatric real-life study. From September 2021 to January 2022, we performed a manufacturer-independent cross-sectional, prospective, multicenter study involving 74 pediatric ambulatory centers and 5 emergency units throughout France. Children ≥6 months to 15 years old with suggestive symptoms of COVID-19 or children in contact with a COVID-19-positive patient were prospectively enrolled. We included 836 children (median 4 years), 774 (92.6%) were symptomatic. The comparators were HCW-PCR for 267 children, and HCW-RAT for 593 children. The sensitivity of the SCANS-RAT test compared to HCW-RAT was 91.3% (95%CI 82.8; 96.4). Sensitivity was 70.4% (95%CI 59.2; 80.0) compared to all HCW-PCR and 84.6% (95%CI 71.9; 93.1) when considering cycle threshold <33. The specificity was always >97%. Among children aged ≥6 years, 90.9% of SCANS-RAT were self-collected without adult intervention. On appreciation rating (from 1, very pleasant, to 10, very unpleasant), 77.9% of children chose a score ≤3. SCANS-RAT have good sensitivity and specificity and are well accepted by children. A repeated screening strategy using these tests can play a major role in controlling the pandemic.

Keywords: COVID-19; ambulatory setting; pediatric; self-test; test.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Rapid antigen test from self-collected anterior nasal swabs (self-test) results according to HCW-PCR viral load.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. European Centre for Disease Prevention Control. Data on Country Response Measures to COVID-19. (2022). Available online at: https://www.ecdc.europa.eu/en/publications-data/download-data-response-m... (accessed September 6, 2022).
    1. Mercer TR, Salit M. Testing at scale during the COVID-19 pandemic. Nat Rev Genet. (2021) 22:415–26. 10.1038/s41576-021-00360-w - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Haute Autorité de Santé,. COVID-19 - Quel Test Faire? (2022). Available online at: https://www.has-sante.fr/upload/docs/application/pdf/2022-01/fu_covid19_... (accessed September 6, 2022).
    1. Direction de la Recherche, des, Etudes, de l'Evaluation et des, Statistiques,. 168 215 000 tests RT-PCR et antigéniques validés en 2021. (2022). Available from: https://drees.solidarites-sante.gouv.fr/delais-covid19-2022-01-06#:~:tex... (accessed September 6, 2022).
    1. Mina MJ, Parker R, Larremore DB. Rethinking Covid-19 test sensitivity - a strategy for containment. N Engl J Med. (2020) 383:e120. 10.1056/NEJMp2025631 - DOI - PubMed