Changes in use of multiplex respiratory panel testing during the COVID-19 pandemic

COVID-19 changed the epidemiology of community-acquired respiratory viruses. We explored patterns of respiratory viral testing to understand which tests are most clinically useful in the postpandemic era.

We conducted a retrospective observational study of discharge data from PINC-AI (formerly Premier), a large administrative database. Use of multiplex nucleic acid amplification respiratory panels in acute care, including small (2-5 targets), medium (6-11), and large panels (>11), were compared between the early pandemic (03/2020-10/2020), late pandemic (11/2020-4/2021), and prepandemic respiratory season (11/2019 - 02/2020) using ANOVA.

A median of 160.5 facilities contributed testing data per quarter (IQR 155.5-169.5). Prepandemic, facilities averaged 103 respiratory panels monthly (sd 138), including 79 large (sd 126), 7 medium (sd 31), and 16 small panels (sd 73). Relative to prepandemic, utilization decreased during the early pandemic (62 panels monthly/facility; sd 112) but returned to the prepandemic baseline by the late pandemic (107 panels monthly/facility; sd 211). Relative to prepandemic, late pandemic testing involved more small panel use (58 monthly/facility, sd 156) and less large panel use (47 monthly/facility, sd 116). Comparisons among periods demonstrated significant differences in overall testing (P < 0.0001), large panel use (P < 0.0001), and small panel use (P < 0.0001).

Postpandemic, clinical use of respiratory panel testing shifted from predominantly large panels to predominantly small panels. Factors driving this change may include resource availability, costs, and the clinical utility of targeting important pathogenic viruses instead of testing "for everything."