Diagnostic Performance of a Rapid Antigen Test for the Detection of SARS-CoV-2

commonly used to diagnose SARS-CoV-2 infection.Although reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) tests are considered the gold standard in the diagnosis of COVID-19 in terms of sensitivity and specificity, these tests have some drawbacks, such as requiring trained personnel and specialized instruments, Abs tractAim: The fight against the coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has proven crucial, necessitating the need for faster, cheaper, and more reliable detection methods.This study evaluated the performance of a rapid antigen test for the diagnosis of COVID-19 compared with reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) results.Methods: This prospective study included 169 participants.Two simultaneous nasopharyngeal swabs were collected from the participants.Samples were tested for severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) using the Panbio™ COVID-19 Ag rapid test (Abbott Rapid Diagnostics, Jena, Germany) and the Bio-Speedy® SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR kit (Bioeksen, Istanbul, Turkey).Results: Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction results were positive in 90 (53.2%) of 169 patients.The antigen rapid diagnostic test (Ag-RDT) was able to find 66 (73.3%) of the 90 RT-PCR positive samples as positive (p<0.001).In all positive samples by Ag-RDT, RT-PCR was positive.The sensitivity, specificity, negative predictive value, and positive predictive value of the Ag-RDT were 73.3%, 100%, 76.7%, and 100%, respectively.The virus detection performance of the Ag-RDT was significantly more successful in the cycle threshold ≤20 (p<0.001).There was no correlation between PCR positivity and the time since vaccination. Conclusion:The Ag-RDT test can be a good option for early detection of cases and early prevention, as it is quick and easy to implement in every laboratory and even at the point of care.