Feasibility of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) antigen self-testing in school and summer camp attendees

Andreu Colom-Cadena; Héctor Martínez-Riveros; Anna Bordas; Lucia Alonso-García; Marcos Montoro-Fernández; Pol Romano-deGea; Josep Vidal-Alaball; Elisabet Solà-Segura; Josep M Llibre; Boris Revollo; Jordi Casabona; Cristina Agustí

doi:10.3389/fped.2022.975454

Feasibility of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) antigen self-testing in school and summer camp attendees

Front Pediatr. 2023 Jan 10:10:975454. doi: 10.3389/fped.2022.975454. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Andreu Colom-Cadena^{1

2}, Héctor Martínez-Riveros^{1

2

3}, Anna Bordas^{1

2}, Lucia Alonso-García^{1

2}, Marcos Montoro-Fernández¹, Pol Romano-deGea^{1

2}, Josep Vidal-Alaball^{4

5

6}, Elisabet Solà-Segura⁷, Josep M Llibre⁸, Boris Revollo⁸, Jordi Casabona^{1

2

9

10}, Cristina Agustí^{1

9}

Affiliations

¹ Centre of Epidemiological Studies on Sexually Transmitted Infections and AIDS of Catalonia (CEEISCAT), Ministry of Health, Government of Catalonia, Badalona, Spain.
² Institut d'Investigació Germans Trias I Pujol (IGTP), Badalona, Spain.
³ PhD in Methodology of Biomedical Research and Public Health, Department of Pediatrics, Obstetrics and Gynecology and Preventive Medicine, Univ Autonòma de Barcelona, Badalona, Spain.
⁴ Health Promotion in Rural Areas Research Group, Gerència Territorial de la Catalunya Central, Institut Català de la Salut, Sant Fruitós del Bages, Spain.
⁵ Unitat de Suport a la Recerca de la Catalunya Central, Fundació Institut Universitari per a la Recerca a l'Atenció Primària de Salut Jordi Gol I Gurina, Sant Fruitós del Bages, Spain.
⁶ University of Vic-Central University of Catalonia, Vic, Spain.
⁷ Primary Heatlhcare Team Vic Nord, Institut Català de la Salut, Vic, Spain.
⁸ Division of Infectious Diseases and Foundation for Fighting AIDS, Infectious Diseases and Promoting Health and Science, University Hospital Germans Trias I Pujol, Badalona, Spain.
⁹ Departament de Pediatria, d'Obstetrícia I Ginecologia I de Medicina Preventiva I de Salut Publica, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Bellaterra, Spain.
¹⁰ Spanish Consortium for Research on Epidemiology and Public Health (CIBERESP), Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Madrid, Spain.

Abstract

Background: SARS-CoV-2 screening is one of the pillars of non-pharmaceutical preventive strategies to early identify and isolate infected individuals and therefore decrease community incidence.

Methods: We assessed the feasibility of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 self-testing with antigen-detecting rapid diagnostic tests in attendees of educational settings.

Results: A total of 305 students (88.15%) and 41 staff (11.85%) from 9 to 56 years old participated in the self-testing procedure and answered the survey at the end of the study. 91.3% (n = 313) did not need help, 96.1% of participants reported the same outcome as the healthcare workers. 94.5% strongly or slightly agree with the statement "I would repeat the experience".

Conclusion: The study demonstrates that self-testing is acceptable and usable in children, adolescents and adults when the epidemiological situation may require a systematic screening of these populations, although supervision by health care or previously trained personnel is recommended for younger age groups.

Keywords: SARS-CoV-2; SARS-CoV-2 antigen testing; acceptability and usability; school public health; self-testing.

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the Ministry of Health of the Government of Catalonia with no grant number. This funding source had no role in the design of this study and any role during its execution, analyses, interpretation of the data or decision to submit results.