• Mohammed F Alosaimi, Abdulkarim Alhetheel, Khalid A Aleisa, Abdullah A Altwerki, Njoud M Alenezy, Ebtisam M Almutairi, Leen O Alothaim, Abdul Manan A Khalid, Khalid M Alayed, Mohammed A Almazyad, Turki A BinMoammar, Fahdah A Alshobaili, Fatimah S Al-Shahrani, Sarah Alsubaie, and Rana M Hasanato.
• From the Department of Pediatrics (Alosaimi, Almazyad), College of Medicine, King Saud University, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia; from the College of Medicine Research Center (Alosaimi), King Saud University, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia; from the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine (Alhetheel, Hasanato), King Saud University, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.; from the College of Medicine (Aleisa, Altwerki, Alenezy, Almutairi), King Saud University, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia; from the Blood Bank (Khalid), King Saud University, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia; from the Department of Medicine (Alayed), College of Medicine, King Saud University, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia; from the Department of Family and Community Medicine (BinMoammar, Alshobaili); from the Division of Infectious Disease, Department of Internal Medicine (Al-Shahrani), King Saud University, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia; and from the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Unit, Department of Pediatrics, (Alsubaie), College of Medicine, King Saud University, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
• Saudi Med J. 2021 Aug 1; 42 (8): 853-861.

ObjectivesTo study the prevalence of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) after pandemic's peak and before the vaccine enrollment in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and further explore predictors for SARS-CoV-2 positivity.MethodsA cross-sectional study of 515 blood donors from November 22 to December 17, 2020 was conducted at King Saud University Medical City, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia to look at SARS-CoV-2 immunoglobulin G (IgG) positivity. The participants were asked questions about their demographic characteristics, past SARS-CoV-2 infection, SARS-CoV-2-related symptoms and exposures.ResultsThe seroprevalence in our study was 12.2% (n=63/515). Being a non-citizen was associated with significantly higher seroprevalence (OR 2.10, p=0.02). Participants with history of SARS-CoV-2 exposure or symptoms regardless of SARS-CoV-2 diagnosis had higher SARS-CoV-2 IgG positivity compared to unexposed or asymptomatic participants (OR 2.47, p=0.0008 or 11.19, p=0.0001, respectively). Blood donors who had symptomatic SARS-CoV-2 IgG infection had a higher SARS-CoV-2 IgG positivity rate (OR 5.04, p=0.008) and index value (p=0.003) than the asymptomatic. Of all the reported symptoms, cough (p=0.004) and anosmia (p=0.002) were significant predictors of SARS-CoV-2 IgG.ConclusionThe seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 among the blood donors in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia is considerably lower than the percentages necessary for herd immunity. Developing SARS-CoV-2-symptoms is the critical factor for higher seropositivity after SARS-CoV-2 exposure.Copyright: © Saudi Medical Journal.

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