University of Massachusetts Medical School Faculty Publications
UMMS Affiliation
Department of Pathology
Publication Date
2020-08-06
Document Type
Article Preprint
Disciplines
Amino Acids, Peptides, and Proteins | Epidemiology | Immunology of Infectious Disease | Immunopathology | Infectious Disease | Virus Diseases
Abstract
Importance: A seroprevalence study can estimate the percentage of people with SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in the general population. Most existing reports have used a convenience sample, which may bias their estimates.
Objective: To estimate the seroprevalence of antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 based on a random sample of adults living in Connecticut between March 1 and June 1, 2020.
Design: Cross-sectional. Setting: We sought a representative sample of Connecticut residents who completed a survey between June 4 and June 23, 2020 and underwent serology testing for SARS-CoV-2-specific IgG antibodies between June 10 and July 6, 2020.
Participants: 505 respondents, aged ≥18 years, residing in non-congregate settings who completed both the survey and the serology test. Main outcomes and measures: We estimated the seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2-specific IgG antibodies among the overall population and across pre-specified subgroups. We also assessed the prevalence of symptomatic illness, risk factors for virus exposure, and self-reported adherence to risk mitigation behaviors among this population.
Results: Of the 505 respondents (mean age 50 [±17] years; 54% women; 76% non-Hispanic White individuals) included, 32% reported having at least 1 symptom suggestive of COVID-19 since March 1, 2020. Overall, 18 respondents had SARS-CoV-2-specific antibodies, resulting in the state-level weighted seroprevalence of 3.1 (90% CI 1.4-4.8). Individuals who were asymptomatic had significantly lower seroprevalence (0.6% [90% CI 0.0-1.5]) compared with the overall state estimate, while those who reported having had ≥1 and ≥2 symptoms had a seroprevalence of 8.0% (90% CI 3.1-12.9) and 13.0% (90% CI 3.5-22.5), respectively. All 9 of the respondents who reported previously having a positive coronavirus test were positive for SARS-CoV-2-specific IgG antibodies. Nearly two-third of respondents reported having avoided public places (74%) and small gatherings of family or friends (75%), and 97% reported wearing a mask outside their home, at least part of the time.
Conclusions and relevance: These estimates indicate that most people in Connecticut do not have detectable levels of antibodies against SARS-CoV-2. There is a need for continued adherence to risk mitigation behaviors among Connecticut residents, to prevent resurgence of COVID-19 in this region.
Keywords
COVID-19, epidemiology, SARS-CoV-2, antibodies, testing, seroprevalence, Connecticut
Rights and Permissions
The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not peer-reviewed) is the author/funder. It is made available under a CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license.
DOI of Published Version
10.1101/2020.08.04.20168203
Source
medRxiv 2020.08.04.20168203; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.08.04.20168203. Link to preprint on medRxiv
Journal/Book/Conference Title
medRxiv
Repository Citation
Mahajan S, Rao LV, Krumholz HM. (2020). Seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2-Specific IgG Antibodies Among Adults Living in Connecticut Between March 1 and June 1, 2020: Post-Infection Prevalence (PIP) Study. University of Massachusetts Medical School Faculty Publications. https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.08.04.20168203. Retrieved from https://escholarship.umassmed.edu/faculty_pubs/1735
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Included in
Amino Acids, Peptides, and Proteins Commons, Epidemiology Commons, Immunology of Infectious Disease Commons, Immunopathology Commons, Infectious Disease Commons, Virus Diseases Commons
Comments
Full author list omitted for brevity. For the full list of authors, see preprint.