A cross sectional study with 185 symptomatic patients, of which 41 had positive results.
Study participants were recruited from symptomatic outpatients’ health care workers presenting to drive-through clinics. Participants were provided test kits for unsupervised home self-collection of a mid-nasal swab. Home swab performance was compared with clinician-collected nasopharyngeal swabs, which were collected by medical assistants and nurses.
Compared with clinician swabs,
- The sensitivity of home swabs was 80.0% (95% CI, 63%-91%) and respectively (Table). Cohen K statistic was 0.81 (95% CI, 0.70-0.93).
- The specificity of home swabs was 97.9% (95% CI, 94%-99.5%).
- Cohen K statistic was 0.81 (95% CI, 0.70-0.93), suggesting substantial agreement.
Unsupervised home self-swab collection was found to present several advantages, including accessibility outside of the health care system and minimizing personal protective equipment use.