Older age is associated with sustained detection of SARS-CoV-2 in nasopharyngeal swab samples

  1. Takeshi Hattori
  2. Masaru Amishima
  3. Daisuke Morinaga
  4. Keisuke Kamada
  5. Sho Nakakubo
  6. Yu Yamashita
  7. Yasuo Shichinohe
  8. Shinichi Fujisawa
  9. Mutsumi Nishida
  10. Yasuyuki Nasuhara
  11. Takanori Teshima
  12. Satoshi Konno

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Abstract

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  1. Version published to 10.1016/j.jinf.2020.06.046
  2. ScreenIT

    SciScore for 10.1101/2020.05.28.20115378: (What is this?)

    Please note, not all rigor criteria are appropriate for all manuscripts.

    Table 1: Rigor

    Institutional Review Board StatementIRB: This study was approved by the ethics committees of National Hospital Organization Hokkaido Medical Center.
    Randomizationnot detected.
    Blindingnot detected.
    Power Analysisnot detected.
    Sex as a biological variablenot detected.

    Table 2: Resources

    Experimental Models: Organisms/Strains
    SentencesResources
    PCR: Quantitative real-time reverse transcription–PCR (RT-qPCR) was conducted as instructed in the manual for the Detection of Pathogen 2019-nCoV Ver.2.9.1, March
    Ver.2.9.1
    suggested: None
    Software and Algorithms
    SentencesResources
    To adjust the effect of severity of the disease and the medication used, multivariate regression analysis was applied Statistical analyses were performed using the statistical software package JMP version 13 (SAS Institute Inc.
    SAS Institute
    suggested: (Statistical Analysis System, RRID:SCR_008567)

    Results from OddPub: We did not detect open data. We also did not detect open code. Researchers are encouraged to share open data when possible (see Nature blog).

    Results from LimitationRecognizer: We detected the following sentences addressing limitations in the study:
    One important limitation of PCR testing is the inability to differentiate between active infectious virus and their non-viable, non-infectious viral counterparts. As such, we propose that there should be a change in the strategy currently in use for determining time of discharge to one that relies on other clinical tests or/and patients’ condition, which could be helpful to inhibit the development of patients’ flail and dementia and to reduce the burden of ongoing and potentially unnecessary prolonged hospitalization. In summary, it became evident that the results from nasopharyngeal swab PCR tests remained positive for SARS-CoV-2 for prolonged periods of time despite resolution of the associated clinical illness. Further, we demonstrated that old age is significantly associated with prolonged duration of positive PCR results from nasopharyngeal swab samples; this is the case regardless of disease severity. Further studies will be needed in order to clarify how long these patients are actually contagious; this will be critical toward the effort to relieve the comparatively large burden placed on hospitals and hospital staff at this time.

    Results from TrialIdentifier: No clinical trial numbers were referenced.

    Results from Barzooka: We did not find any issues relating to the usage of bar graphs.

    Results from JetFighter: We did not find any issues relating to colormaps.

    Results from rtransparent:
    • Thank you for including a conflict of interest statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
    • Thank you for including a funding statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
    • No protocol registration statement was detected.

    About SciScore

    SciScore is an automated tool that is designed to assist expert reviewers by finding and presenting formulaic information scattered throughout a paper in a standard, easy to digest format. SciScore checks for the presence and correctness of RRIDs (research resource identifiers), and for rigor criteria such as sex and investigator blinding. For details on the theoretical underpinning of rigor criteria and the tools shown here, including references cited, please follow this link.

  3. Version published to 10.1101/2020.05.28.20115378 on medRxiv