A Comparison of Pharyngeal Swabs and Tracheal Secretions for the Diagnosing of COVID-19

Maibritt Meldgaard Arildsen; Sif Bay Glenting; Anette Marianne Fedder; Bettina Jørgensen; Svend Ellermann-Eriksen; Marianne Kragh Thomsen; Christina Catherine Dahm; Michael Pedersen

doi:10.3390/biomedicines10020488

A Comparison of Pharyngeal Swabs and Tracheal Secretions for the Diagnosing of COVID-19

Maibritt Meldgaard Arildsen, Sif Bay Glenting, Anette Marianne Fedder, Bettina Jørgensen, Svend Ellermann-Eriksen, Marianne Kragh Thomsen, Christina Catherine Dahm, Michael Pedersen^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal/Conference contribution in journal/Contribution to newspaper › Journal article › Research › peer-review

Abstract

The aim of this study was to compare the test results from patients who, within a short timescale, have been tested for COVID-19 using both a pharyngeal swab and tracheal secretion. Data were collected from the database of AUH, from patients hospitalized between 1 March 2020 and 1 March 2021 who, due to symptoms of COVID-19, were tested by a pharyngeal swab and by tracheal secretion. We found great agreement between oropharyngeal swab and tracheal secretion RT-PCR testing for the diagnosis of COVID-19, with 98.5% of double tests being concordant and only 1.5% being discordant. This finding may advocate a single-test strategy being either an oropharyngeal swab RT-PCR testing or tracheal secretion, although this study revealed 15.9% false negative oropharyngeal swabs.

Original language	English
Article number	488
Journal	Biomedicines
Volume	10
Issue	2
Number of pages	7
ISSN	2227-9059
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.3390/biomedicines10020488
Publication status	Published - Feb 2022

Keywords

COVID-19
Comparison
Pharyngeal swab
SARS-CoV-2
Test methods
Tracheal suction

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title = "A Comparison of Pharyngeal Swabs and Tracheal Secretions for the Diagnosing of COVID-19",

abstract = "The aim of this study was to compare the test results from patients who, within a short timescale, have been tested for COVID-19 using both a pharyngeal swab and tracheal secretion. Data were collected from the database of AUH, from patients hospitalized between 1 March 2020 and 1 March 2021 who, due to symptoms of COVID-19, were tested by a pharyngeal swab and by tracheal secretion. We found great agreement between oropharyngeal swab and tracheal secretion RT-PCR testing for the diagnosis of COVID-19, with 98.5% of double tests being concordant and only 1.5% being discordant. This finding may advocate a single-test strategy being either an oropharyngeal swab RT-PCR testing or tracheal secretion, although this study revealed 15.9% false negative oropharyngeal swabs.",

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AU - Jørgensen, Bettina

AU - Ellermann-Eriksen, Svend

AU - Thomsen, Marianne Kragh

AU - Dahm, Christina Catherine

AU - Pedersen, Michael

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N2 - The aim of this study was to compare the test results from patients who, within a short timescale, have been tested for COVID-19 using both a pharyngeal swab and tracheal secretion. Data were collected from the database of AUH, from patients hospitalized between 1 March 2020 and 1 March 2021 who, due to symptoms of COVID-19, were tested by a pharyngeal swab and by tracheal secretion. We found great agreement between oropharyngeal swab and tracheal secretion RT-PCR testing for the diagnosis of COVID-19, with 98.5% of double tests being concordant and only 1.5% being discordant. This finding may advocate a single-test strategy being either an oropharyngeal swab RT-PCR testing or tracheal secretion, although this study revealed 15.9% false negative oropharyngeal swabs.

AB - The aim of this study was to compare the test results from patients who, within a short timescale, have been tested for COVID-19 using both a pharyngeal swab and tracheal secretion. Data were collected from the database of AUH, from patients hospitalized between 1 March 2020 and 1 March 2021 who, due to symptoms of COVID-19, were tested by a pharyngeal swab and by tracheal secretion. We found great agreement between oropharyngeal swab and tracheal secretion RT-PCR testing for the diagnosis of COVID-19, with 98.5% of double tests being concordant and only 1.5% being discordant. This finding may advocate a single-test strategy being either an oropharyngeal swab RT-PCR testing or tracheal secretion, although this study revealed 15.9% false negative oropharyngeal swabs.

KW - COVID-19

KW - Comparison

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A Comparison of Pharyngeal Swabs and Tracheal Secretions for the Diagnosing of COVID-19

Abstract

Keywords

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