Development of at-home sample collection logistics for large-scale seroprevalence studies
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Abstract
Serological studies rely on the recruitment of representative cohorts; however, such efforts are specially complicated by the conditions surrounding the COVID19 pandemic.
Methods
We aimed to design and implement a fully remote methodology for conducting safe serological surveys that also allow for the engagement of representative study populations.
Results
This design was well-received and effective. 2,066 participants ≥18 years old were enrolled, reflecting the ethnic and racial composition of Massachusetts. >70% of them reported being satisfied/extremely satisfied with the online enrollment and at-home self-collection of blood samples. While 18.6% reported some discomfort experienced with the collection process, 72.2% stated that they would be willing to test weekly if enrolled in a long-term study.
Conclusions
High engagement and positive feedback from participants, as well as the quality of self-collected specimens, point to the usefulness of this fully remote, self-collection-based study design for future safer and efficient population-level serological surveys.
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SciScore for 10.1101/2021.01.14.21249824: (What is this?)
Please note, not all rigor criteria are appropriate for all manuscripts.
Table 1: Rigor
Institutional Review Board Statement IRB: Ethics approval: Ethical clearance was obtained from Advarra (Pro00043729) and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health review board (IRB20-1511).
Consent: Written informed consent was obtained electronically from all participants prior to enrollment in this study.Randomization not detected. Blinding not detected. Power Analysis not detected. Sex as a biological variable not detected. Table 2: Resources
Antibodies Sentences Resources Study Design: Statistical Analysis: Chi-square tests and univariate logistic regression models were used to investigate the association between demographic, clinical, and behavioral factors and seroprevalence of antibodies against … SciScore for 10.1101/2021.01.14.21249824: (What is this?)
Please note, not all rigor criteria are appropriate for all manuscripts.
Table 1: Rigor
Institutional Review Board Statement IRB: Ethics approval: Ethical clearance was obtained from Advarra (Pro00043729) and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health review board (IRB20-1511).
Consent: Written informed consent was obtained electronically from all participants prior to enrollment in this study.Randomization not detected. Blinding not detected. Power Analysis not detected. Sex as a biological variable not detected. Table 2: Resources
Antibodies Sentences Resources Study Design: Statistical Analysis: Chi-square tests and univariate logistic regression models were used to investigate the association between demographic, clinical, and behavioral factors and seroprevalence of antibodies against SARS-CoV-2. SARS-CoV-2suggested: NoneSoftware and Algorithms Sentences Resources All analyses were performed using Python (version 3.8.5). Pythonsuggested: (IPython, RRID:SCR_001658)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:Despite limitations, this study provides valuable data with regards to disease risk trends. Our data generally points to healthcare workers or those who live with them, those with comorbidities, and lower-income, less educated, and Latin-American individuals as those with relatively greater risk for COVID-19 in Massachusetts. Individuals in the age ranges of 18 to 29 and 50 to 59 years were more likely to have antibodies to SARS-CoV-2, which likely reflect behavioral patterns (e.g., less careful social behavior) and increased transmission among the young and a covarying increased risk of disease by greater incidence of comorbidities among the older, respectively. For the 59 of 1872 individuals with positive IgG to SARS-CoV-2 at baseline, sustained serological responses are generally observed, with the few negative results at day 90 possibly serving as an indicator of the natural waning of an antibody response over time22. Some of the samples may appear as a false negative or a false positive also because the test sensitivity and specificity, respectively, are predicted to be lower for samples of lower antibody prevalence17. The population breakdown in Massachusetts does not accurately reflect the disease burden for COVID-19 reported in macro-aggregated statistics across the country, and while it is important to consider the limitations of our data when making claims about seroprevalence for the state, it also important to recognize the heterogeneity of the pandemic in the sta...
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.
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