Comparison of Dried Blood Spots and Venous Blood for the Detection of SARS-CoV-2 Antibodies in a Population of Nursing Home Residents

  1. Eline Meyers
  2. Stefan Heytens
  3. Asangwing Formukong
  4. Hanne Vercruysse
  5. An De Sutter
  6. Tom Geens
  7. Kenneth Hofkens
  8. Heidi Janssens
  9. Eveline Nys
  10. Elizaveta Padalko
  11. Ellen Deschepper
  12. Piet Cools

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Abstract

Since the implementation of newly developed SARS-CoV-2 vaccines in the general population, serological tests are of increasing importance. Because DBS samples can be obtained with a finger prick and can be shipped and stored at room temperature, they are optimal for use in large-scale SARS-CoV-2 serosurveillance or postauthorization vaccination studies, even in an elderly study population.

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  1. Version published to 10.1128/spectrum.00178-21
  2. ScreenIT

    SciScore for 10.1101/2021.05.17.21256410: (What is this?)

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

    Table 1: Rigor

    EthicsIRB: Ethical considerations: The current study was approved by the Ethical Committee of the Ghent University Hospital (reference number BC-07665) and conducted according to the principles outlined in the Declaration of Helsinki.
    Consent: Each participant signed an informed consent form after being informed about the goal of the study and the sampling procedures.
    Sex as a biological variablenot detected.
    Randomizationnot detected.
    Blindingnot detected.
    Power AnalysisSample size and analysis: The sample size was calculated using the methodology described by Buderer (1996), focusing on the sensitivity (4).

    Table 2: Resources

    Antibodies
    SentencesResources
    We used an in-house validated cut-off index of 0.9 to classify sera as positive (≥0.9) or negative (<0.9) for SARS-CoV-2 IgG antibodies.
    SARS-CoV-2 IgG
    suggested: None
    SARS-CoV-2 IgG detection in dried blood spots by means of ELISA: The DBS were analyzed for the presence of anti-spike (S1-antigen) SARS-CoV-2 IgG antibodies by means of ELISA (EUROIMMUN, PerkinElmer Health Sciences Inc., Lübeck, Germany), and not the Abbot CMIA, because this assay requires a volume of 150 µl, which is more than the volume of capillary blood absorbed on one circle of the DBS.
    anti-spike (S1-antigen
    suggested: None
    Software and Algorithms
    SentencesResources
    The following day, serum was aliquoted into new serum vials and analyzed by means of Abbott SARS-CoV-2 IgG Architect immunoassay (Abbott Laboratories).
    Abbott Laboratories
    suggested: None
    The sensitivity and specificity of the DBS were calculated using the Abbott CMIA on sera from venous blood as a reference test.
    Abbott
    suggested: (Abbott, RRID:SCR_010477)
    All analyses were performed using the statistical software GraphPad Prism 6 (GraphPad Software Inc., San Diego, U.S.).
    GraphPad Prism
    suggested: (GraphPad Prism, RRID:SCR_002798)
    GraphPad
    suggested: (GraphPad Prism, RRID:SCR_002798)

    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: An explicit section about the limitations of the techniques employed in this study was not found. We encourage authors to address study limitations.

    Results from TrialIdentifier: We found the following clinical trial numbers in your paper:

    IdentifierStatusTitle
    NCT04880122CompletedDried Blood Spots for SARS-CoV-2 Serology (COVID-19).

    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.

    Results from scite Reference Check: We found no unreliable references.

    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 10.1101/2021.05.17.21256410v1 on medRxiv