Comparison of antigen test and polymerase chain reaction for SARS-CoV-2 in children younger than 12 years

Stopping the spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is critical and can be achieved through rapid and effective detection techniques. Our objective was to compare the diagnostic accuracy of rapid antigen tests (RAgT) and reverse transcriptionquantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) and to describe amplification cycle thresholds (Cts). Participants were children aged 1 month to 11 years with symptoms for less than 7 days, who did not have a detectable result in the past 90 days, and were immunocompetent. A total of 1855 patients were included; the prevalence of COVID-19 was 4.7%. For the RAgT, overall sensitivity was 60.2% and specificity, 99.8%; in children older than 5 years, values were 69.8% and 99.8%, respectively. Ct values for discordant samples were higher. To conclude, the diagnostic accuracy indicated that the specificity of RAgT is similar to that of RT-qPCR, but its sensitivity is notably lower, especially in children younger than 5 years.