Assessment of Sensitivity and Specificity of Patient-Collected Lower Nasal Specimens for Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2Testing

Jonathan Altamirano; Prasanthi Govindarajan; Andra L Blomkalns; Lauren E Kushner; Bryan Andrew Stevens; Benjamin A Pinsky; Yvonne Maldonado

doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2020.12005

Assessment of Sensitivity and Specificity of Patient-Collected Lower Nasal Specimens for Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2Testing

JAMA Netw Open. 2020 Jun 1;3(6):e2012005. doi: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2020.12005.

Authors

Jonathan Altamirano¹, Prasanthi Govindarajan², Andra L Blomkalns², Lauren E Kushner¹, Bryan Andrew Stevens³, Benjamin A Pinsky³, Yvonne Maldonado¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Pediatrics, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California.
² Department of Emergency Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California.
³ Department of Pathology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California.

Abstract

This prognostic study compares the diagnostic equivalence of patient-collected lower nasal specimens with that of health care worker–collected oropharyngeal specimens for sudden acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) testing.

MeSH terms

Adult
Aged
Betacoronavirus / isolation & purification*
COVID-19
COVID-19 Testing
Clinical Laboratory Techniques / methods*
Coronavirus Infections / diagnosis
Coronavirus Infections / virology*
Female
Humans
Male
Middle Aged
Nasopharynx / virology*
Pandemics
Patient Outcome Assessment
Pneumonia, Viral / virology*
Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction
SARS-CoV-2
Self Care
Sensitivity and Specificity
Specimen Handling