Trial reportBMJ open2020
'Immunity Passports' for SARS-CoV-2: an online experimental study of the impact of antibody test terminology on perceived risk and behaviour.
Trial report in BMJ open, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
11 citing papers in PubMed, 20 citations in OpenAlex.
- Trial
- Adherence to mask wearing and social distancing and use of lateral flow tests during the COVID19 pandemic in England and Wales based on the virus watch community cohort study.Discover public health · 2026Article
- Human mobility increased with vaccine coverage and attenuated the protection of COVID-19 vaccination: A longitudinal study of 107 countries.Journal of global health · 2023Article
- Perceived threat of COVID-19, attitudes towards vaccination, and vaccine hesitancy: A prospective longitudinal study in the UK.British journal of health psychology · 2022Article
- Performance Evaluation of Lateral Flow Assays for Coronavirus Disease-19 Serology.Clinics in laboratory medicine · 2022Review
- Vaccination passports: Challenges for a future of air transportation.Transport policy · 2021Article
- A call for caution regarding infection-acquired COVID-19 immunity: The potentially unintended effects of "immunity passports" and how to mitigate them.Journal of applied social psychology · 2021Article
- Behavioural responses to Covid-19 health certification: a rapid review.BMC public health · 2021Review
- Evaluation of serological lateral flow assays for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2.BMC infectious diseases · 2021Article
- Public understanding of COVID-19 antibody testing and test results: A qualitative study conducted in the U.K. early in the pandemic.Social science & medicine (1982) · 2021Article
- The impact of believing you have had COVID-19 on self-reported behaviour: Cross-sectional survey.PloS one · 2020Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 4 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveTo assess the impact of describing an antibody-positive test result using the terms Immunity and Passport or Certificate, alone or in combination, on perceived risk of becoming infected with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and protective behaviours.
design2×3 experimental design.
settingOnline.
participants1204 adults from a UK research panel.
interventionParticipants were randomised to receive one of six descriptions of an antibody test and results showing SARS-CoV-2 antibodies, differing in the terms describing the type of test (Immunity vs Antibody) and the test result (Passport vs Certificate vs Test).
main outcome measuresPrimary outcome: proportion of participants perceiving no risk of infection with SARS-CoV-2 given an antibody-positive test result. Other outcomes include: intended changes to frequency of hand washing and physical distancing.
resultsWhen using the term Immunity (vs Antibody), 19.1% of participants (95% CI 16.1% to 22.5%) (vs 9.8% (95% CI 7.5% to 12.4%)) perceived no risk of catching coronavirus given an antibody-positive test result (adjusted OR (AOR): 2.91 (95% CI 1.52 to 5.55)). Using the terms Passport or Certificate-as opposed to Test-had no significant effect (AOR: 1.24 (95% CI 0.62 to 2.48) and AOR: 0.96 (95% CI 0.47 to 1.99) respectively). There was no significant interaction between the effects of the test and result terminology. Across groups, perceiving no risk of infection was associated with an intention to wash hands less frequently (AOR: 2.32 (95% CI 1.25 to 4.28)); there was no significant association with intended avoidance of physical contact (AOR: 1.37 (95% CI 0.93 to 2.03)).
conclusionsUsing the term Immunity (vs Antibody) to describe antibody tests for SARS-CoV-2 increases the proportion of people believing that an antibody-positive result means they have no risk of catching coronavirus in the future, a perception that may be associated with less frequent hand washing. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: Open Science Framework: https://osf.io/tjwz8/files/.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.