Reliability of antibody tests for COVID-19 diagnosis

Objective: The reverse transcription–polymerase chain reaction test (RT-PCR) is the gold standard for diagnosis of coronavirus
 disease 2019 (COVID-19), and antibody tests are useful as supplemental tools diagnosis, measuring population’s immunity
 levels, checking infection in asymptomatic contacts. This study aimed to evaluate reliability five commercial antibody
 detection kits.
 Materials Methods: Colloidal Gold COVID-19 IgG/IgM Rapid Test Kit, Antibody Hotgen,
 Beijing Hotgen Biotech Co., Ltd., China), Abbott Chemiluminescent Microparticle Immunoassay (Illinois, USA), Roche
 Electrochemiluminescence (Roche Diagnostics, Switzerland), Siemens Chemiluminescence (Munich, Germany), and
 Euroimmun ELISA (Lübeck, Germany) was studied. antibody-negative group included 50 sera from
 2018, antibody-positive 98 patients with positive RT-PCR results from whom blood samples had been collected
 3–9 weeks after hospital discharge. Statistical analysis performed using SPSS version 23.0 (IBM Corporation, Armonk, NY, USA).
 tests’ validity intra-assay reproducibility were examined, Cohen’s kappa coefficients obtained. The
 prevalence pegged at 10%.
 Results: sensitivity (69.12–72.46%) predictive values (42.44–100.0%) low, their specificity
 (89.58–100%) negative (96.31–97.03%) high. Their accuracy rates varied 87.54% 97.25%, their
 variation 1% Conclusion: agreement between kits higher when classified according to
 targeted antigens. time sample collection, antigens, types affected results. Serological tests
 found be useful, largely reliable, although, some parameters need improved.