TY - JOUR
T1 - Predictors of sars-cov-2 positivity based on rt-pcr swab tests at a drive-through outpatient clinic for covid-19 screening in japan
AU - Ishii, Tadashi
AU - Kushimoto, Shigeki
AU - Katori, Yukio
AU - Kure, Shigeo
AU - Igarashi, Kaoru
AU - Fujita, Motoo
AU - Takayama, Shin
AU - Abe, Michiaki
AU - Tanaka, Junichi
AU - Kikuchi, Akiko
AU - Abe, Yoshiko
AU - Imai, Hiroyuki
AU - Inaba, Yohei
AU - Iwamatsu-Kobayashi, Yoko
AU - Nishioka, Takashi
AU - Onodera, Ko
AU - Akaishi, Tetsuya
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors deeply thank all medical staffs and local government staffs (Sendai City, Miyagi Prefecture) who joined and cooperated to this drive-through RT-PCR testing project. Doctors from the Departments of General Medicine, Kampo Medicine, Dentistry, Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Pediatrics, Emergency and Critical Care Medicine, Hematology and Rheumatology, Psychiatry, and Geriatric Medicine and Neuroimaging of Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, Disaster Medical Science Division of the International Research Institute of Disaster Science (IRIDeS) of Tohoku University, and Graduate Medical Education Center of Tohoku University Hospital contributed to collect the samples. Co-medical staffs from the Nursing Department, Infection Control Office, Pharmaceutical Department, Clinical Technology Department, Administration Department, Medical Engineering Center, and Community Medical Cooperation Center of the Tohoku University Hospital contributed to manage and support the operation of this project. Also, we thank Dr. Shinichi Fukushige (Tohoku University) for reviewing the manuscript.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 Tohoku University Medical Press.
PY - 2021
Y1 - 2021
N2 - In response to the COVID-19 pandemic caused by SARS-CoV-2 in 2020, we conducted drive-through nasopharyngeal swab testing for COVID-19 in Sendai city, Japan, since April 2020. All tested individuals were judged in advance by public health centers for the necessity of undergoing the test with possible contact history and/or symptoms suggestive of COVID-19. In this study, to identify the predictors of SARS-CoV-2 test positivity for more efficient and evidenced selection of suspected individuals, we enrolled 3,540 consecutive individuals, tested in the first 7 months of the testing program, with data regarding to the history of close contact with COVID-19 patients, including those involved in cluster outbreaks. This cohort included 284 foreign students (257 males and 27 females) from a vocational school involved in the largest cluster outbreak in the area. Close contact history was present in 952 (26.9%) of the participants. The reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test results showed that 164 participants (4.6%) were positive and 3,376 participants (95.4%) were negative for the SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid gene (N2). In the univariate and multivariate analyses, history of close contact with COVID-19 patients, higher age, cough symptoms, and non-native ethnicity were predictors for SARS-CoV-2 test positivity. However, the significance of age and foreign nationality disappeared or declined upon excluding the foreign students from the aforementioned largest cluster outbreak. In conclusion, a history of close contact with COVID-19 patients and the presence of cough symptoms are significant predictors of SARS-CoV-2 test positivity.
AB - In response to the COVID-19 pandemic caused by SARS-CoV-2 in 2020, we conducted drive-through nasopharyngeal swab testing for COVID-19 in Sendai city, Japan, since April 2020. All tested individuals were judged in advance by public health centers for the necessity of undergoing the test with possible contact history and/or symptoms suggestive of COVID-19. In this study, to identify the predictors of SARS-CoV-2 test positivity for more efficient and evidenced selection of suspected individuals, we enrolled 3,540 consecutive individuals, tested in the first 7 months of the testing program, with data regarding to the history of close contact with COVID-19 patients, including those involved in cluster outbreaks. This cohort included 284 foreign students (257 males and 27 females) from a vocational school involved in the largest cluster outbreak in the area. Close contact history was present in 952 (26.9%) of the participants. The reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test results showed that 164 participants (4.6%) were positive and 3,376 participants (95.4%) were negative for the SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid gene (N2). In the univariate and multivariate analyses, history of close contact with COVID-19 patients, higher age, cough symptoms, and non-native ethnicity were predictors for SARS-CoV-2 test positivity. However, the significance of age and foreign nationality disappeared or declined upon excluding the foreign students from the aforementioned largest cluster outbreak. In conclusion, a history of close contact with COVID-19 patients and the presence of cough symptoms are significant predictors of SARS-CoV-2 test positivity.
KW - Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)
KW - Drive-through
KW - Nasopharyngeal swab test
KW - Reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR)
KW - SARS-CoV-2
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85100774028&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85100774028&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1620/tjem.253.101
DO - 10.1620/tjem.253.101
M3 - Article
C2 - 33536379
AN - SCOPUS:85100774028
SN - 0040-8727
VL - 253
SP - 101
EP - 108
JO - Tohoku Journal of Experimental Medicine
JF - Tohoku Journal of Experimental Medicine
IS - 2
ER -
