{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,31]],"date-time":"2026-03-31T02:58:35Z","timestamp":1774925915025,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":16,"publisher":"Public Library of Science (PLoS)","issue":"6","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,6,30]],"date-time":"2022-06-30T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1656547200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/100004440","name":"Wellcome Trust","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["200901\/Z\/16\/Z"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["200901\/Z\/16\/Z"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100004440","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/100004440","name":"Wellcome Trust","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["220764\/Z\/20\/Z"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["220764\/Z\/20\/Z"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100004440","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100000265","name":"Medical Research Council","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["MRC Doctoral Training Partnership"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["MRC Doctoral Training Partnership"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100000265","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100000272","name":"National Institute for Health Research","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["FALCON C-19"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["FALCON C-19"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100000272","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100000362","name":"Asthma UK","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["FALCON C-19"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["FALCON C-19"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100000362","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100000351","name":"British Lung Foundation","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["FALCON C-19"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["FALCON C-19"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100000351","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["www.plosone.org"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["PLoS ONE"],"abstract":"<jats:sec id=\"sec001\">\n                    <jats:title>Background<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) developed for point of care detection of SARS-CoV-2 antigen are recommended by WHO to use trained health care workers to collect samples. We hypothesised that self-taken samples are non-inferior for use with RDTs to diagnose COVID-19. We designed a prospective diagnostic evaluation comparing self-taken and healthcare worker (HCW)-taken throat\/nasal swabs to perform RDTs for SARS-CoV-2, and how these compare to RT-PCR.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec id=\"sec002\">\n                    <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Eligible participants 18 years or older with symptoms of COVID-19. 250 participants recruited at the NHS Test and Trace drive-through community PCR testing site (Liverpool, UK); one withdrew before analysis. Self-administered throat\/nasal swab for the Covios\u00ae RDT, a trained HCW taken throat\/nasal sample for PCR and HCW comparison throat\/nasal swab for RDT were collected. RDT results were compared to RT-PCR, as the reference standard, to calculate sensitivity and specificity.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec id=\"sec003\">\n                    <jats:title>Findings<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Seventy-five participants (75\/249, 30.1%) were positive by RT-PCR. RDTs with self-taken swabs had a sensitivity of 90.5% (67\/74, 95% CI: 83.9\u201397.2), compared to 78.4% (58\/74, 95% CI: 69.0\u201387.8) for HCW-taken swabs (absolute difference 12.2%, 95% CI: 4.7\u201319.6, p = 0.003). Specificity for self-taken swabs was 99.4% (173\/174, 95% CI: 98.3\u2013100.0), versus 98.9% (172\/174, 95% CI: 97.3\u2013100.0) for HCW-taken swabs (absolute difference 0.6%, 95% CI: 0.5\u20131.7, p = 0.317). The PPV of self-taken RDTs (98.5%, 67\/68, 95% CI: 95.7\u2013100.0) and HCW-taken RDTs (96.7%, 58\/60, 95% CI 92.1\u2013100.0) were not significantly different (p = 0.262). However, the NPV of self-taken swab RDTs was significantly higher (96.1%, 173\/180, 95% CI: 93.2\u201398.9) than HCW-taken RDTs (91.5%, 172\/188, 95% CI 87.5\u201395.5, p = 0.003).<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec id=\"sec004\">\n                    <jats:title>Interpretation<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>In conclusion, self-taken swabs for COVID-19 testing offer an accurate alternative to healthcare worker taken swabs for use with RDTs. Our results demonstrate that, with no training, self-taken throat\/nasal samples can be used by lay individuals as part of rapid testing programmes for symptomatic adults. This is especially important where the lack of trained healthcare workers restricts access to testing.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0270715","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,6,30]],"date-time":"2022-06-30T13:29:02Z","timestamp":1656595742000},"page":"e0270715","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.corrections_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":17,"title":["A prospective diagnostic evaluation of accuracy of self-taken and healthcare worker-taken swabs for rapid COVID-19 testing"],"prefix":"10.1371","volume":"17","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-2592-9257","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Helen R.","family":"Savage","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Lorna","family":"Finch","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Richard","family":"Body","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-5754-3469","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Rachel L.","family":"Watkins","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"name":"LSTM Diagnostics group","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"name":"CONDOR steering group","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Gail","family":"Hayward","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Elo\u00efse","family":"Cook","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-9604-124X","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Ana I.","family":"Cubas-Atienzar","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Luis E.","family":"Cuevas","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-0329-9613","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Peter","family":"MacPherson","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Emily R.","family":"Adams","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"340","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,6,30]]},"reference":[{"key":"pone.0270715.ref001","unstructured":"World Health Organization (WHO). 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Facilitating AcceLerated Clinical Validation Of Novel Diagnostics for COVID-19 (FALCON-C19) (FALCON-C19). 2021. https:\/\/clinicaltrials.gov\/ct2\/show\/NCT04408170 (accessed Nov 17, 2021)."},{"key":"pone.0270715.ref008","unstructured":"Department for Transport. Packaging and transport requirements for patient samples\u2013UN3373. United Kingdom. 2020. https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/publications\/packaging-and-transport-requirements-for-patient-samples-un3373\/packaging-and-transport-requirements-for-patient-samples-un3373 (accessed Nov 16, 2021)."},{"key":"pone.0270715.ref009","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"132","DOI":"10.12688\/wellcomeopenres.16842.1","article-title":"Accuracy of the Mologic COVID-19 rapid antigen test: a prospective multi-centre analytical and clinical evaluation","volume":"6","author":"AI Cubas-Atienzar","year":"2021","journal-title":"Wellcome Open Res"},{"key":"pone.0270715.ref010","unstructured":"Liverpool City Council Corporate Intellignce team. 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Torjesen","year":"2021","journal-title":"BMJ"}],"container-title":["PLOS ONE"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/dx.plos.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.0270715","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2022,6,30]],"date-time":"2022-06-30T13:29:30Z","timestamp":1656595770000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/dx.plos.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.0270715"}},"subtitle":[],"editor":[{"given":"Sylvia Maria","family":"Bruisten","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"editor","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2022,6,30]]},"references-count":16,"journal-issue":{"issue":"6","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,6,30]]}},"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.0270715","relation":{"has-preprint":[{"id-type":"doi","id":"10.1101\/2021.12.06.21267356","asserted-by":"object"}]},"ISSN":["1932-6203"],"issn-type":[{"value":"1932-6203","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2022,6,30]]}}}