Seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2–Specific Antibodies, Faroe Islands

Petersen, Maria Skaalum; Strøm, Marin; Christiansen, Debes H.; Fjallsbak, Jógvan Páll; Eliasen, Eina H.; Johansen, Malan; Veyhe, Anna Sofía; Kristiansen, Marnar Fríðheim; Gaïni, Shahin; Møller, Lars; Steig, Bjarni á; Weihe, Pál

doi:10.3201/eid2611.202736

Cited by 35 publications

(47 citation statements)

References 5 publications

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“…The studies varied substantially in sampling and recruitment designs ( Table 1 ; available at: http://www.who.int/bulletin/volumes/99/1/20-265892 ). Of the 61 studies, 24 studies 8 , 10 , 16 , 17 , 20 , 22 , 25 , 33 , 34 , 36 , 37 , 42 , 46 – 49 , 52 – 54 , 57 , 61 , 63 , 65 , 68 explicitly aimed for random sampling from the general population. In principle, random sampling is a stronger design.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Infection fatality rate of COVID-19 inferred from seroprevalence data

Ioannidis

2020

Bull. World Health Organ.

361

320

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Objective To estimate the infection fatality rate of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) from seroprevalence data. Methods I searched PubMed and preprint servers for COVID-19 seroprevalence studies with a sample size ≥ 500 as of 9 September 2020. I also retrieved additional results of national studies from preliminary press releases and reports. I assessed the studies for design features and seroprevalence estimates. I estimated the infection fatality rate for each study by dividing the cumulative number of COVID-19 deaths by the number of people estimated to be infected in each region. I corrected for the number of immunoglobin (Ig) types tested (IgG, IgM, IgA). Findings I included 61 studies (74 estimates) and eight preliminary national estimates. Seroprevalence estimates ranged from 0.02% to 53.40%. Infection fatality rates ranged from 0.00% to 1.63%, corrected values from 0.00% to 1.54%. Across 51 locations, the median COVID-19 infection fatality rate was 0.27% (corrected 0.23%): the rate was 0.09% in locations with COVID-19 population mortality rates less than the global average (< 118 deaths/million), 0.20% in locations with 118–500 COVID-19 deaths/million people and 0.57% in locations with > 500 COVID-19 deaths/million people. In people younger than 70 years, infection fatality rates ranged from 0.00% to 0.31% with crude and corrected medians of 0.05%. Conclusion The infection fatality rate of COVID-19 can vary substantially across different locations and this may reflect differences in population age structure and case-mix of infected and deceased patients and other factors. The inferred infection fatality rates tended to be much lower than estimates made earlier in the pandemic.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Infection fatality rate of COVID-19 inferred from seroprevalence data

Ioannidis

2020

Bull. World Health Organ.

361

320

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“…Four studies provide national level data (17, 18, 21, 25), five studies report a province, county or self-governing area level data (20, 23, 24, 26, 29), and the rest provide a city, town, village or district level data. Seven studies tested participants over the age of 14 years (15, 18, 22, 25, 26, 29, 31) and ten tested population of all ages - the proportion of children and young people (0-19 years) ranged from 7% to 26% and the proportion of participants aged over 60 years ranged from 7% to 37%.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Comparison of seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 infections with cumulative and imputed COVID-19 cases: systematic review

Byambasuren

Dobler

Bell

et al. 2020

Preprint

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Background: Accurate seroprevalence estimates of SARS-CoV-2 in different populations could help gauge the true magnitude and spread of the infection seroprevalence. Reported estimates have varied greatly, but many have derived from biased samples, and inadequate testing methods. Objective: To estimate the range of valid seroprevalence rates of SARS-CoV-2 in different populations, and compare these seroprevalence estimates with the cumulative cases seen in the same population. Methods: We searched PubMed, Embase, the Cochrane COVID-19 trials, and Europe-PMC for published studies and pre-prints from January 2020 to 25 May 2020 that reported anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgG, IgM and/or IgA antibodies for serosurveys of either the general community or of defined sub-populations, such healthcare workers and other organizations. Results: Of the 837 studies identified, 49 were assessed and 14 were includable. Included studies represented 10 countries and 100,557 subjects: 9 from randomly selected populations, 2 from healthcare workers, 2 from industry populations, and 1of parturient women. The seroprevalence proportions in 10 studies ranged between 1%-10%, and 2 study estimates under 1%, and 2 over 10% - from the notably hard-hit regions of Gangelt in Germany and from Northwest Iran. The two studies in healthcare workers, in Italy and Spain, had seroprevalence rates at higher range of estimates, with the Barcelona hospitals having a higher rate than the Spanish national survey. For only one study was the seroprevalence estimate higher than the cumulative incidence, though these were proximate for several studies. In five studies, the seroprevalence was similar to the cumulative case numbers in the same population. For seropositive cases not previously detected as COVID-19 cases, the majority had prior COVID-like symptoms. Conclusion: The seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 mostly less than 10% with the level of infection lower in the general community, suggesting levels well below herd immunity. The similarity of seroprevalence and reported cases is several studies, and high symptom rates in seropositive cases suggest that gaps between seroprevalence rates and reported cases are likely due to undertesting of symptomatic people.

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“…The same proportion of studies validated their methods internally to report accuracy (16,21,23,24,30,32,(34)(35)(36)(37)(38)(39)45,50,52) or used sensitivity and specificity given by manufacturers or other external studies (18)(19)(20)22,36,(40)(41)(42)(44)(45)(46)(47)(48)(49)(50)(51). We also noticed that it is quite unclear if the field teams followed standardized protocols for the data collection and testing.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Population-based prevalence surveys during the COVID-19 pandemic: a systematic review

Franceschi

Santos

Glaeser

et al. 2020

Preprint

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Population-based prevalence surveys of COVID-19 contribute to establish the burden and epidemiology of infection, the role of asymptomatic and mild infections in transmission, and allow more precise decisions about reopen policies. We performed a systematic review to evaluate qualitative aspects of these studies, their reliability, and biases. The available data described 37 surveys from 19 countries, mostly from Europe and America and using antibody testing. They reached highly heterogeneous sample sizes and prevalence estimates. Disproportional prevalence was observed in minority communities. Important risk of bias was detected in four domains: sample size, data analysis with sufficient coverage, measurements in standard way, and response rate. The correspondence analysis showed few consistent patterns for high risk of bias. Intermediate risk of bias was related to American and European studies, blood samples and prevalence >1%. Low risk of bias was related to Asian studies, RT-PCR tests and prevalence <1%.

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Seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2–Specific Antibodies, Faroe Islands

Cited by 35 publications

References 5 publications

Infection fatality rate of COVID-19 inferred from seroprevalence data

Infection fatality rate of COVID-19 inferred from seroprevalence data

Comparison of seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 infections with cumulative and imputed COVID-19 cases: systematic review

Population-based prevalence surveys during the COVID-19 pandemic: a systematic review

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