Trend in Sensitivity of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) Serology One Year After Mild and Asymptomatic Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19): Unpacking Potential Bias in Seroprevalence Studies

Christopher R Bailie; Yeu Yang Tseng; Louise Carolan; Martyn D Kirk; Suellen Nicholson; Annette Fox; Sheena G Sullivan

doi:10.1093/cid/ciac020

Trend in Sensitivity of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) Serology One Year After Mild and Asymptomatic Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19): Unpacking Potential Bias in Seroprevalence Studies

Clin Infect Dis. 2022 Aug 24;75(1):e357-e360. doi: 10.1093/cid/ciac020.

Authors

Christopher R Bailie^{1

2}, Yeu Yang Tseng³, Louise Carolan⁴, Martyn D Kirk⁵, Suellen Nicholson⁶, Annette Fox⁷, Sheena G Sullivan³

Affiliations

¹ World Health Organization (WHO) Collaborating Centre for Reference and Research on Influenza, Royal Melbourne Hospital, at the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity, Melbourne VIC, Australia.
² National Centre for Epidemiology and Public Health, Australian National University, Canberra Australian Capital Territory (ACT), Australia.
³ WHO Collaborating Centre for Reference and Research on Influenza, Royal Melbourne Hospital, and Department of Infectious Disease, University of Melbourne, at the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity, Melbourne Victoria (VIC), Australia.
⁴ WHO Collaborating Centre for Reference and Research on Influenza, Royal Melbourne Hospital, at the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity, Melbourne VIC, Australia.
⁵ National Centre for Epidemiology and Public Health, Australian National University, Canberra ACT, Australia.
⁶ Victorian Infectious Diseases Reference Laboratory, Royal Melbourne Hospital, at the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity, Melbourne VIC, Australia.
⁷ WHO Collaborating Centre for Reference and Research on Influenza, Royal Melbourne Hospital, and Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Melbourne, and Department of Infectious Diseases, University of Melbourne, at the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity, Melbourne VIC, Australia.

Abstract

A key aim of serosurveillance during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has been to estimate the prevalence of prior infection, by correcting crude seroprevalence against estimated test performance for polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-confirmed COVID-19. We show that poor generalizability of sensitivity estimates to some target populations may lead to substantial underestimation of case numbers.

Keywords: COVID-19; antibody; sensitivity; serology; surveillance.

Publication types

Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Antibodies, Viral
COVID-19 Testing
COVID-19*
Humans
Pandemics
SARS-CoV-2*
Seroepidemiologic Studies

Substances

Antibodies, Viral

Grants and funding

R01 AI141534/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/United States