Abstract
Hospital-wide screenings for coronavirus disease (COVID-19) are important to identify healthcare workers at risk of exposure. However, the currently available diagnostic tests are expensive or only identify past infection. Therefore, this single-center observational study aimed to assess the positivity rate of hospital-wide antigen screening tests for COVID-19 and evaluate clinical factors associated with antigen positivity during a COVID-19 institutional outbreak in Sapporo, Japan.We analyzed the data of 1615 employees who underwent salivary or nasal swab antigen tests on November 18, 2020, to detect severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Laboratory confirmation using reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction was performed for those with positive viral serology. The demographic characteristics, job titles, and risk of contact with COVID-19 patients were compared between employees with and without COVID-19.A total of 19 employees (1.2%) tested positive for the SARS-CoV-2 antigen. The positivity rate was high among rehabilitation therapists (2.1%) and employees in the low-risk contact group (6.1%). Although there was no association between the job titles and the seropositivity rate, those in the low-risk contact group had an increased risk of testing positive for the viral antigen (odds ratio, 8.67; 95% confidence interval, 3.30-22.8).The antigen positivity rate was low during the hospital outbreak, suggesting that risk assessment of exposure to COVID-19 patients may provide more useful information than using job titles to identify infected health care providers.
【초록키워드】 COVID-19, coronavirus disease, SARS-CoV-2, coronavirus, Health care, Healthcare workers, serology, hospital, diagnostic test, Infection, risk, rehabilitation, severe acute respiratory syndrome Coronavirus, healthcare worker, observational study, Screening, Risk assessment, Antigen, polymerase chain reaction, Health, Reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction, outbreak, diagnostic tests, Patient, Seropositivity, Japan, SARS-CoV-2 antigen, nasal swab, information, Care, screening test, association, Odds ratio, Contact, COVID-19 patient, demographic characteristics, reverse transcriptase, exposure to, Chain Reaction, contact with, Viral antigen, acute respiratory syndrome, acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus, acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, 95% confidence interval, increased risk, single-center, clinical factors, positive, laboratory confirmation, transcriptase, salivary, polymerase chain, tested, analyzed, identify, detect, evaluate, was performed, clinical factor, the SARS-CoV-2, with COVID-19, 【제목키워드】 Antigen, single-center,