Prevalence of IgG antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 among healthcare workers in a tertiary pediatric hospital in Poland
This article has been Reviewed by the following groups
Listed in
- Evaluated articles (ScreenIT)
Abstract
Data on the prevalence of the SARS-CoV-2 antibody in healthcare workers (HCWs) is scarce, especially in pediatric settings. The purpose of this study was to evaluate SARS-CoV-2 IgG-positivity among HCWs of a tertiary pediatric hospital. In addition, follow-up of the serological response in the subgroup of seropositive HCWs was analysed, to gain some insight on the persistence of IgG antibodies to SARS-CoV-2. We performed a retrospective analysis of voluntary SARS-CoV-2 IgG testing, which was made available free of charge to HCWs of the Children’s Memorial Health Institute in Warsaw (Poland). Plasma samples were collected between July 1 and August 9, 2020, and tested using the Abbott SARS-CoV-2 IgG assay. Of 2,282 eligible participants, 1,879 (82.3%) HCWs volunteered to undergo testing. Sixteen HCWs tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 IgG, corresponding to a seroprevalence of 0.85%. Among seropositive HCWs, three HCWs had confirmed COVID-19. Nine (56.3%) of the seropositive HCWs reported neither symptoms nor unprotected contact with confirmed SARS-CoV-2 cases in the previous months. A decline in the IgG index was observed at a median time of 86.5 days (range:84‒128 days) after symptom onset or RT-PCR testing. Further studies are necessary to elucidate the duration of persistence of anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies, as well as the correlation between seropositivity and protective immunity against reinfection. Regardless of the persistence of antibodies and their protective properties, such low prevalence indicates that this population is vulnerable to a second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Article activity feed
-
-
SciScore for 10.1101/2020.11.28.20239848: (What is this?)
Please note, not all rigor criteria are appropriate for all manuscripts.
Table 1: Rigor
Institutional Review Board Statement IRB: The study has been reviewed and approved by the Institutional Review Board of the Children’s Memorial Health Institute in Warsaw (Ref. no. 10/P-IN/20), and granted a waiver of consent since the data were analyzed anonymously.
Consent: The study has been reviewed and approved by the Institutional Review Board of the Children’s Memorial Health Institute in Warsaw (Ref. no. 10/P-IN/20), and granted a waiver of consent since the data were analyzed anonymously.Randomization not detected. Blinding not detected. Power Analysis not detected. Sex as a biological variable not detected. Table 2: Resources
Software and Algorithms Sentences Resources Plasma samples were run on the … SciScore for 10.1101/2020.11.28.20239848: (What is this?)
Please note, not all rigor criteria are appropriate for all manuscripts.
Table 1: Rigor
Institutional Review Board Statement IRB: The study has been reviewed and approved by the Institutional Review Board of the Children’s Memorial Health Institute in Warsaw (Ref. no. 10/P-IN/20), and granted a waiver of consent since the data were analyzed anonymously.
Consent: The study has been reviewed and approved by the Institutional Review Board of the Children’s Memorial Health Institute in Warsaw (Ref. no. 10/P-IN/20), and granted a waiver of consent since the data were analyzed anonymously.Randomization not detected. Blinding not detected. Power Analysis not detected. Sex as a biological variable not detected. Table 2: Resources
Software and Algorithms Sentences Resources Plasma samples were run on the Abbott Alinity i instrument using the Abbott SARS-CoV-2 IgG assay (Abbott Laboratories, Lake Bluff, IL, USA) following manufacturer’s instruction. Abbottsuggested: (Abbott, RRID:SCR_010477)Abbott Laboratoriessuggested: NoneResults 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 some limitations which should be acknowledged. First, testing spanned an over a 5-week period (week 27 – 32), potentially leading to changes in incidence over time and possible variation in professional groups attending testing. Second, we cannot rule out that some of HCWs were infected and either mounted no detectable antibody response or it had weaned by the time of serology testing, as we had found one of confirmed COVID-19 case seronegative 129 days after the positive RT-PCR test. Thus, the seroprevalence in our study could be underestimated. Moreover, data on symptoms, exposure histories or personal protective equipment use were collected only for the subset of seropositive HCWs by telephone interview (subjected to recall bias), therefore more detailed information on risk factors could not be assessed. Nevertheless, so far this is the largest study assessing the prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 IgG antibodies among HCWs in the pediatric hospital setting, with a high response rate and the use of high-quality serological assay. Our study provides data on the seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 infection among HCWs in the pediatric setting in the initial peak of the pandemic, which inform control and prevention strategies for future waves of COVID-19 pandemic.
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.
-
