Utility of Newborn Dried Blood Spots to Ascertain Seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 Antibodies Among Individuals Giving Birth in New York State, November 2019 to November 2021

Abstract

IMPORTANCESerosurveys can be used to monitor population-level dynamics of COVID-19 and vaccination. Dried blood spots (DBSs) collected from infants contain maternal IgG antibodies and are useful for serosurveys of individuals recently giving birth. OBJECTIVES To examine SARS-CoV-2 antibody prevalence in pregnant individuals in New York State, identify associations between SARS-CoV-2 antibody status and maternal and infant characteristics, and detect COVID-19 vaccination among this population. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS A population-based, repeated cross-sectional study was conducted to detect SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid (N) and spike (S) IgG antibodies. Deidentified DBS

Use of Self-Collected Dried Blood Spots and a Multiplex Microsphere Immunoassay to Measure IgG Antibody Response to COVID-19 Vaccines

“…However, the test used in this study can be performed in less than a day and is designed to accommodate high-throughput testing, resulting in a short turnaround time in the lab. Additionally, not including labor and equipment costs, this assay has a relatively low reagent cost of approximately $1.00 per sample ( 4 , 5 ).…”

“…In April 2020, we used this assay to test >15,000 DBS collected by trained staff at grocery stores throughout New York State (NYS) and reported an estimated cumulative incidence of SARS-CoV-2 infection of 22.7% in New York City and 14% statewide ( 3 ). This assay was then employed for additional NYS serosurveys through June 2020 ( 4 ) and a large-scale serosurvey of DBS collected from all newborns born in NYS from November 2019 through November 2021 ( 5 ).…”

Quantitating SARS-CoV-2 Neutralizing Antibodies from Human Dried Blood Spots

“…In New York State, for example, a statewide seroprevalence study among ~15,000 individuals in public settings (e.g., grocery store fronts) conducted in April 2020 afforded some of the first insights into overall disease incidence and demographics of virus exposure in urban and rural communities (1). Similarly, a cross-sectional serosurvey of ~400,000 newborns in New York State that employed heel stick DBS collected between November 2019 and November 2021 afforded unprecedent insight into COVID-19 exposures and vaccination status among a diverse population of reproductive-aged females (2). Other groups have leveraged clinician-assisted and self-collected DBS to conduct large scale serosurveys of vulnerable cohorts, school age children, and otherwise hard to reach communities (3)(4)(5)(6)(7)(8)(9)(10).…”

Mass Spectrometry of Transferrin and Apolipoprotein CIII from Dried Blood Spots for Congenital Disorders of Glycosylation

“…to monitor SARS-CoV-2 antibody prevalence in pregnant individuals by detecting maternal IgG antibodies in newborn DBS samples. 4 ) This suggests that proteins in DBS can be utilized for population or screening studies.…”