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CC BY 4.0 · European Dental Research and Biomaterials Journal 2022; 03(01/02): 021-025
DOI: 10.1055/s-0043-1768174
Original Article

The Effect of Correlation of Laboratory-Developed Test and Initial Symptoms and False Negatives in RT-PCR Strategies for COVID-19 Patients with Beta Variants

Shohreh Ghasemi 
1   OMFS Department of Augusta University, Georgia, United States
2   Master of Craniofacial Reconstruction and Trauma Queen Marry, University of London, London, Great Britain
,
Seyed Alireza Nadji 
3   Virology Research Center, National Research Institute of Tuberculosis and Lung Diseases, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
,
Mahmood Dashti 
4   Georgia School of Orthodontics, Atlanta, Georgia, United States
,
Mahboobeh Karimi-Galougahi 
3   Virology Research Center, National Research Institute of Tuberculosis and Lung Diseases, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
,
Negar Raygani 
5   Department of Otolaryngology, Masih Daneshvari Hospital, Tehran, Iran
,
Mahla Nabi 
6   Department of Radiology, Ziyaian Hospital, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
,
Ghazal Mohammadi 
7   Cancer Institute of Imam Khomeini, Faculty of Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Science, Tehran, Iran
,
Niyoosha Kandez 
8   Psychology Department, University of South Alabama, Mobile, Alabama, United States
,
Amirali Ebrahimi 
9   Masih Daneshvari Hospital, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
,
Elaheh Askari 
10   School of Dentistry, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
› Author Affiliations Funding No funding was taken for this research.
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Abstract

Objective Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) assays detect severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The number of viruses in the sample varies between patients; it depends on sample location, nasal or throat, and with time infection spreads. Previous studies showed that the viral load of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infection is the peak just before symptoms onset. Furthermore, positive and negative results depend on test site, sampling, and timing method; RT-PCR can be 1 to 30% false-negative result.

Materials and Methods Within this study, we took RT-PCR test from COVID-19 positive patients who already had the confirmation of the disease either by lung computed tomography (CT)-scan or the symptoms such as dyspnea. The study was explained to all the patients, and they confirmed to take the RT-PCR test. Negative samples from those patients were retested, and if the result came back negative, we included them as negative in the result.

Result A total number of 49 patients (25 females) and (24 males) with a mean age of 53.24 years (ranging from 32 to 77) were enrolled. About 32.3% of patients, despite having COVID-19 disease, had a negative RT-PCR test. There is a positive and significant relationship between weight (r = 0.253) and CT at the time of hospitalization of COVID-19 patients and a negative and significant relationship with O2 saturation without oxygen therapy (r =  − 0.296), the model can predict 67.7% of the disease due to the beta value, and the share of O2 saturation without oxygen therapy is more than weight.

Conclusion We show that a pragmatic model can be designed to predict which patients have a higher chance of getting false-negative result, and should be retested for COVID-19. Among the variables, weight had a negative and significant relationship, and O2 saturation without respiratory support had a negative and significant relationship with COVID-19 disease.

Keywords

SARS-Cov-2 - COVID-19 - saliva - RT-PCR test - laboratory-developed test

Authors' Contribution

S.G.H. helped in conceptualization, methodology, supervision, project administration, and writing—review & editing. S.A.N. was involved in conceptualization, data curation, methodology, and supervision. M.D. contributed to conceptualization, formal analysis, methodology, project administration, and writing—review & editing. M.K.G. and N.R. helped in data curation, formal analysis, methodology, and investigation. M.N. and G.h.M. were involved in investigation, validation, and writing—original draft. N.K. and E.A. helped in investigation and writing—original draft. A.E. contributed to investigation, validation, and data curation.


Availability of Data and Materials

The datasets used and analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.




Publication History

Article published online:
21 April 2023

© 2023. The Author(s). This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, permitting unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction so long as the original work is properly cited. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

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