Hall, JA;
Harris, RJ;
Emmett, HE;
Lowe, B;
Singanayagam, A;
Twohig, KA;
Zaidi, A;
... Dabrera, G; + view all
(2021)
On the Sensitivity and Specificity of Postmortem Upper Respiratory Tract Testing for SARS-CoV-2.
The Journal of Infectious Diseases
, 224
(3)
pp. 389-394.
10.1093/infdis/jiab270.
Preview |
Text
On the Sensitivity and Specificity of Postmortem Upper Respiratory Tract Testing for SARS-CoV-2.pdf - Published Version Download (734kB) | Preview |
Abstract
Background Postmortem testing can improve our understanding of the impact of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) if sufficiently sensitive and specific. Methods We investigated the postmortem sensitivity and specificity of reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing on upper respiratory swabs using a dataset of everyone tested for SARS-CoV-2 before and after death in England, 1 March to 29 October 2020. We analyzed sensitivity in those with a positive test before death by time to postmortem test. We developed a multivariate model and conducted time-to-negativity survival analysis. For specificity, we analyzed those with a negative test in the week before death. Results Postmortem testing within a week after death had a sensitivity of 96.8% if the person had tested positive within a week before death. There was no effect of age, sex, or specimen type on sensitivity, but individuals with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)–related codes on their death certificate were 5.65 times more likely to test positive after death (95% confidence interval, 2.31–13.9). Specificity was 94.2%, increasing to 97.5% in individuals without COVID-19 on the death certificate. Conclusion Postmortem testing has high sensitivity (96.8%) and specificity (94.2%) if performed within a week after death and could be a useful diagnostic tool.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | On the Sensitivity and Specificity of Postmortem Upper Respiratory Tract Testing for SARS-CoV-2 |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1093/infdis/jiab270 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1093/infdis/jiab270 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | This version is the author accepted manuscript. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher’s terms and conditions. |
| Keywords: | Science & Technology, Life Sciences & Biomedicine, Immunology, Infectious Diseases, Microbiology, COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, post mortem, sensitivity, specificity |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > UCL EGA Institute for Womens Health UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > UCL EGA Institute for Womens Health > Reproductive Health |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10134827 |
Archive Staff Only
 |
View Item |
