High Sensitivity and NPV for BinaxNOW Rapid Antigen Test in Children at a Mass Testing Site during Prevalent Delta Variant Period

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Abstract

The BinaxNOW rapid antigen COVID-19 test had a sensitivity of nearly 92% in both symptomatic and asymptomatic children when performed at a high-throughput setting during the more transmissible delta variant dominant period. The test may play an invaluable role in asymptomatic screening and keeping children safe in school.

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  1. SciScore for 10.1101/2022.01.05.22268788: (What is this?)

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

    Table 1: Rigor

    EthicsIRB: This study was approved by the Johns Hopkins institutional review board.
    Sex as a biological variablenot detected.
    Randomizationnot detected.
    Blindingnot detected.
    Power Analysisnot detected.

    Table 2: Resources

    Software and Algorithms
    SentencesResources
    All statistical analyses were performed using JMP Pro, version 14.0.0, software (SAS Institute, Cary, NC).
    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:
    Our study has a few limitations. The results from a single-site with over one-year of experience in high volume testing may not be generalizable to all situations. However, with implementation of best practices, similar accuracy would be expected.12 Our study enrolled only a small number of children with high-risk exposure and the estimates of accuracy had broad confidence interval. However, the results are similar to overall symptomatic and asymptomatic groups. Additionally, three of the four false negative tests in the high-risk exposure group were tested within 3 days of exposure and samples were likely collected too early for detection by a rapid antigen test. Given the short turn-around-time, low cost, and ease of use, this test could play an important role in allowing children to limit absence from school and other activities while in quarantine or awaiting PCR test results especially for asymptomatic children. It may assist in implementing test-to-stay strategies, where exposed school children are allowed to continue uninterrupted in-person learning given frequent testing for one week after exposure.18 The higher accuracy reported in our study also underscores the magnitude of missed opportunity in failing to make this important tool widely available to schools. If further studies with the extremely transmissible omicron variant show very high viral load and rapid antigen accuracy, these tests could become one of most valuable tools used to fight current and future COV...

    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.

    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.