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Meta-Analysis
. 2023 Apr:129:228-235.
doi: 10.1016/j.ijid.2023.02.011. Epub 2023 Feb 18.

Duration of viable virus shedding and polymerase chain reaction positivity of the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant in the upper respiratory tract: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Yu Wu  1 , Zirui Guo  1 , Jie Yuan  1 , Guiying Cao  1 , Yaping Wang  1 , Peng Gao  1 , Jue Liu  1 , Min Liu  2
Affiliations
Meta-Analysis

Duration of viable virus shedding and polymerase chain reaction positivity of the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant in the upper respiratory tract: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Yu Wu et al. Int J Infect Dis. 2023 Apr.

Abstract

Objectives: To assess the duration of viable virus shedding and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) positivity of the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant in the upper respiratory tract.

Methods: We systematically searched PubMed, Cochrane, and Web of Science for original articles reporting the duration of viable virus shedding and PCR positivity of the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant in the upper respiratory tract from November 11, 2021 to December 11, 2022. This meta-analysis was conducted following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines and was registered with PROSPERO (CRD42022357349). We used the DerSimonian-Laird random-effects meta-analyses to obtain the pooled value and the 95% confidence intervals.

Results: We included 29 studies and 230,227 patients. The pooled duration of viable virus shedding of the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant in the upper respiratory tract was 5.16 days (95% CI: 4.18-6.14), and the average duration of PCR positivity was 10.82 days (95% CI: 10.23-11.42). The duration of viable virus shedding and PCR positivity of the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant in symptomatic patients was slightly higher than that in asymptomatic patients, but the difference was not significant (P >0.05).

Conclusion: The current study improves our understanding of the status of the literature on the duration of viable virus shedding and PCR positivity of Omicron in the upper respiratory tract. Our findings have implications for pandemic control strategies and infection control measures.

Keywords: Meta; PCR positivity; SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant; Upper respiratory tract; Viable virus shedding.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of competing interest The authors have no competing interests to declare.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses study flow diagram for search up to May 28, 2022.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Forest plot for the meta-analysis of viable virus shedding duration of the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant in upper respiratory tract. CI, confidence interval; DL, DerSimonian and Laird method.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Forest plot for the meta-analysis of PCR positivity duration of the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant in upper respiratory tract. CI, confidence interval; DL, DerSimonian and Laird method.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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Supplementary concepts