Abstract

Saliva has been demonstrated as feasible alternative to naso-oropharyngeal swab (NOS) for SARS-CoV-2 detection through reverse transcription quantitative/real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR). This study compared the diagnostic agreement of conventional NOS, saliva with RNA extraction (SE) and saliva without RNA extraction (SalivaDirect) processing for RT-qPCR in identifying SARS-CoV-2. All techniques were also compared, as separate index tests, to a composite reference standard (CRS) where positive and negative results were defined as SARS-CoV-2 detection in either one or no sample, respectively. Of 517 paired samples, SARS-CoV-2 was detected in 150 (29.01%) NOS and 151 (29.21%) saliva specimens. The saliva-based tests were noted to have a sensitivity, specificity and accuracy (95% confidence interval) of 92.67% (87.26%, 96.28%), 97.55% (95.40%, 98.87%) and 96.13% (94.09%, 97.62%), respectively, for SE RT-qPCR and 91.33% (85.64%, 95.30%), 98.91% (97.23%, 99.70%) and 96.71% (94.79%, 98.07%), respectively, for SalivaDirect RT-qPCR compared to NOS RT-qPCR. Compared to CRS, all platforms demonstrated statistically similar diagnostic performance. These findings suggest that both conventional and streamlined saliva RT-qPCR are at least non-inferior to conventional NOS RT-qPCR in detecting SARS-CoV-2.

Details

Title
Saliva as alternative to naso-oropharyngeal swab for SARS-CoV-2 detection by RT-qPCR: a multicenter cross-sectional diagnostic validation study
Author
Tee, Michael L. 1 ; Abrilla, Aedrian A. 2 ; Tee, Cherica A. 1 ; Dalmacio, Leslie Michelle M. 2 ; Villaflor, Vivencio Jose P. 3 ; Abubakar, Al-Zamzam A. 4 ; Tagayuna, Pedrito Y. 5 ; Aquino, Sheldon Steven C. 3 ; Bernardo, Vicente Aaron L. 3 ; Matias, Ronald R. 6 

 University of the Philippines Manila, College of Medicine and Philippine General Hospital, Manila, Philippines (GRID:grid.11159.3d) (ISNI:0000 0000 9650 2179); Medical Center Manila, Manila, Philippines (GRID:grid.11159.3d) 
 University of the Philippines Manila, College of Medicine and Philippine General Hospital, Manila, Philippines (GRID:grid.11159.3d) (ISNI:0000 0000 9650 2179) 
 Dagupan Doctors Villaflor Memorial Hospital, Dagupan City, Philippines (GRID:grid.11159.3d) 
 Ciudad Medical Zamboanga, Zamboanga City, Philippines (GRID:grid.11159.3d) 
 Fe Del Mundo Medical Center, Quezon City, Philippines (GRID:grid.11159.3d) 
 St. Luke’s Medical Center, National Capital Region, Quezon City, Philippines (GRID:grid.416846.9) (ISNI:0000 0004 0571 4942) 
Publication year
2022
Publication date
2022
Publisher
Nature Publishing Group
e-ISSN
20452322
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
ProQuest document ID
2693185914
Copyright
© The Author(s) 2022. This work is published under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (the “License”). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.