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Comparison of participant-collected nasal and staff-collected oropharyngeal specimens for human ribonuclease P
Mitchell T Arnold1, Jonathan L Temte1, Shari K Barlow1
1Department of Family Medicine and Community Health, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health, Madison, WI, United States of America.
Insights
Community members can effectively collect respiratory specimens for research. Anterior nasal swabs collected by participants showed high adequacy, comparable to staff-collected samples, supporting feasible, community-based respiratory illness studies.
Area of Science:
- Public Health
- Infectious Disease Research
- Clinical Diagnostics
Background:
- Respiratory illnesses are a significant cause of childhood absenteeism.
- Accurate specimen collection is crucial for diagnosing respiratory infections.
- Community-based studies require feasible and reliable methods for sample collection.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the adequacy of participant-collected respiratory specimens compared to staff-collected ones.
- To assess the feasibility of community-based respiratory specimen collection in a real-world setting.
- To determine the optimal method for participant-collected nasal specimens.
Main Methods:
- Analysis of 4,352 respiratory specimens from 2,796 subjects in the Oregon Child Absenteeism due to Respiratory Disease Study.
- Comparison of staff-collected oropharyngeal specimens with participant-collected midturbinate (year 1) and anterior nasal (year 2) specimens.
- Measurement of human ribonuclease P levels via RT-PCR to assess specimen adequacy (Cycle threshold < 38).
Main Results:
- Overall adequacy: 99.9% for staff-collected and 96.4% for participant-collected specimens.
- Participant-collected midturbinate specimen adequacy was 95.2% in year 1, increasing to 97.2% with anterior nasal collection in year 2.
- Mean Cycle threshold for participant specimens was 31.18 (year 1) and 28.48 (year 2), indicating good RNA preservation.
Conclusions:
- Community-based participant collection of respiratory specimens is feasible and comparable to staff-collected samples.
- Anterior nasal specimen collection by participants may be optimal for achieving high adequacy rates.
- Findings support the use of self-collected respiratory specimens in large-scale epidemiological studies.
Abstract:
We analyzed 4,352 participant- and staff-collected respiratory specimens from 2,796 subjects in the Oregon Child Absenteeism due to Respiratory Disease Study. Trained staff collected oropharyngeal specimens from school-aged children with acute respiratory illness while household participants of all ages collected their own midturbinate nasal specimens in year one and anterior nasal specimens in year two. Human ribonuclease P levels were measured using RT-PCR for all staff- and participant-collected specimens to determine adequacy, defined as Cycle threshold less than 38. Overall, staff- and participant-collected specimens were 99.9% and 96.4% adequate, respectively. Participant-collected midturbinate specimens were 95.2% adequate in year one, increasing to 97.2% in year two with anterior nasal collection. The mean human ribonuclease P Cycle threshold for participant-collected specimens was 31.18 in year one and 28.48 in year two. The results from this study suggest that community-based participant collection of respiratory specimens is comparable to staff-collected oropharyngeal specimens, is feasible, and may be optimal with anterior nasal collection.
