At-home COVID-19 test kits accurate, might bolster screening effort, study says

July 22 (UPI) -- At-home nasal swab-based tests for COVID-19 correctly diagnose 80% of people with the virus and 98% of those who don't have it, a study published Wednesday by JAMA Network Open found.

The results suggest the self-administered kits are as effective at identifying the virus as testing platforms offered in hospitals, clinics and doctors' offices, and could help supplement testing efforts that have seen marked increases in demand in recent weeks, the researchers said.

"People can collect their own swabs for SARS-CoV-2 testing at home, and the results from these tests are comparable to those collected at a doctor's office," co-author Dr. Helen Y. Chu told UPI.

"It is important to increase the ways that you can test for SARS-CoV-2 to contain the spread of COVID-19, [and] at-home [testing] allows individuals to get tested without leaving their homes and potentially exposing other individuals [to the virus]," said Chu, a professor at the University of Washington School of Medicine.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration first awarded an emergency use authorization for an at-home COVID-19 testing kit -- the Everlywell COVID-19 Test Home Collection Kit -- in May.

Since then, several other testing platforms have been approved for use, according to the agency.

For their study, Chu and her colleagues evaluated the effectiveness of COVID-19 tests in 185 participants, 158, or 85%, of who were enrolled at drive-through coronavirus testing clinics.

Among the study participants, 27, or 15%, enrolled after receiving a positive SARS-CoV-2 test, the researchers said.

In all, 41, or 22.2%, of the participants had positive SARS-CoV-2 test results in clinician-collected nasal swabs, home self-collected nasal swabs or both, they said.

Compared with clinician-collected swabs, at-home tests -- the researchers did not specify which kits were used -- correctly identified 95% of those with COVID-19 when they had higher viral loads -- or higher amounts of the virus in their bodies -- Chu said.

"At-home testing is a good option for expanding quick and efficient testing for COVID-19 in the U.S.," she told UPI.

However, "in order to get an accurate diagnosis, an adequate amount of sample needs to be collected on the swab in order to detect the presence of virus," Chu said, adding that for these tests to work, users need "to carefully read and follow the directions included in the test kit."