• Gian Luca Salvagno, Gianluca Gianfilippi, Damiano Bragantini, Brandon M Henry, and Giuseppe Lippi.
• Service of Laboratory Medicine, Pederzoli Hospital, Peschiera del Garda, Italy.
• Diagnosis (Berl). 2021 Aug 26; 8 (3): 322-326.

ObjectivesNovel point-of-care antigen assays present a promising opportunity for rapid screening of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infections. The purpose of this study was the clinical assessment of the new Roche SARS-CoV-2 Rapid Antigen Test.MethodsThe clinical performance of Roche SARS-CoV-2 Rapid Antigen Test was evaluated vs. a reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) laboratory-based assay (Seegene AllplexTM2019-nCoV) in nasopharyngeal swabs collected from a series of consecutive patients referred for SARS-CoV-2 diagnostics to the Pederzoli Hospital (Peschiera del Garda, Verona, Italy) over a 2-week period.ResultsThe final study population consisted of 321 consecutive patients (mean age, 46 years and IQR, 32-56 years; 181 women, 56.4%), with 149/321 (46.4%) positive for SARS-CoV-2 RNA via the Seegene AllplexTM2019-nCoV Assay, and 109/321 (34.0%) positive with Roche SARS-CoV-2 Rapid Antigen Test, respectively. The overall accuracy of Roche SARS-CoV-2 Rapid Antigen Test compared to molecular testing was 86.9%, with 72.5% sensitivity and 99.4% specificity. Progressive decline in performance was observed as cycle threshold (Ct) values of different SARS-CoV-2 gene targets increased. The sensitivity was found to range between 97-100% in clinical samples with Ct values <25, between 50-81% in those with Ct values between 25 and <30, but low as 12-18% in samples with Ct values between 30 and <37.ConclusionsThe clinical performance of Roche SARS-CoV-2 Rapid Antigen Test is excellent in nasopharyngeal swabs with Ct values <25, which makes it a reliable screening test in patients with high viral load. However, mass community screening would require the use of more sensitive techniques.© 2020 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston.

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