ArticleThe Lancet. Respiratory medicine2020
Clinical impact of molecular point-of-care testing for suspected COVID-19 in hospital (COV-19POC): a prospective, interventional, non-randomised, controlled study.
Article in The Lancet. Respiratory medicine, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 74 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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
74 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 134 citations in OpenAlex.
- Pooled it
- The role of routine SARS-CoV-2 screening of healthcare-workers in acute care hospitals in 2020: a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMC infectious diseases · 2022Pooled it
- Process Improvement Approaches for Increasing the Response of Emergency Departments against the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Systematic Review.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Respiratory pathogen epidemiology in the post-pandemic era: a multicenter retrospective study from Saudi Arabia.BMC infectious diseases · 2026Article
- Molecularly Imprinted Polymers as Biomimetic Test Zones in Paper-Based Nucleic Acid Assays-Comparing Vertical and Lateral Flow Formats.Biosensors · 2026Article
- Factors Influencing the Course of Hospitalization in Children with Respiratory Syncytial Virus Infection: A Retrospective Single-Center Study at the Department of Pediatrics, Wadowice Hospital, Poland.Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2026Observational
- Point-Of-Care Respiratory Diagnosis and Antibiotic Utilization in the Emergency Department: A Prospective Evaluation of Multiplex PCR.Academic emergency medicine : official journal of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine · 2026Article
- How to identify respiratory pathogens in primary health care - a review on the benefits, prospects and pitfalls in using point of care tests.Infection · 2025Review
- Advances in Point-of-Care Infectious Disease Diagnostics: Integration of Technologies, Validation, Artificial Intelligence, and Regulatory Oversight.Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Droplet-Based Measurements of DNA-Templated Nanoclusters-Towards Point-of-Care Applications.Biosensors · 2025Article
- IL-33 is associated with alveolar dysfunction in patients with viral lower respiratory tract disease.Mucosal immunology · 2025Article
- Review
- Transformation gap from research findings to large-scale commercialized products in microfluidic field.Materials today. Bio · 2024Review
- Diagnostic Accuracy of the LabTurbo QuadAIO Common Flu Assay for Detecting Influenza A Virus, Influenza B Virus, RSV, and SARS-CoV-2.Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Article
- Finding the missed millions: innovations to bring tuberculosis diagnosis closer to key populations.BMC global and public health · 2024Review
- Recommendations on Rapid Diagnostic Point-of-care Molecular Tests for Respiratory Infections in the United Arab Emirates.The open respiratory medicine journal · 2024Review
- Effects of Different SARS-CoV-2 Testing Strategies in the Emergency Department on Length of Stay and Clinical Outcomes: A Randomised Controlled Trial.The Canadian journal of infectious diseases & medical microbiology = Journal canadien des maladies infectieuses et de la microbiologie medicale · 2024Article
- A cross-sectional study of parental perspectives on children about COVID-19 and classification using machine learning models.Frontiers in public health · 2024Article
14 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
15 authors at 5 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundThe management of the COVID-19 pandemic is hampered by long delays associated with centralised laboratory PCR testing. In hospitals, these delays lead to poor patient flow and nosocomial transmission. Rapid, accurate tests are therefore urgently needed in preparation for the next wave of the pandemic.
methodsWe did a prospective, interventional, non-randomised, controlled study of molecular point-of-care testing in patients aged 18 years or older presenting with suspected COVID-19 to the emergency department or other acute areas of Southampton General Hospital during the first wave of the pandemic in the UK. Nose and throat swab samples taken at admission from patients in the point-of-care testing group were tested with the QIAstat-Dx Respiratory SARS-CoV-2 Panel. Samples taken from patients in a contemporaneous control group were tested by laboratory PCR. The primary outcome was time to results in the full cohort. This study is registered with ISRCTN (ISRCTN14966673) and is completed.
findingsBetween March 20 and April 29, 2020, 517 patients were assessed for eligibility, of whom 499 were recruited to the point-of-care testing group and tested by the QIAstat-Dx Respiratory SARS-CoV-2 Panel. 555 contemporaneously identified patients were included in the control group and tested by laboratory PCR. The two groups were similar with regard to the distribution of sex, age, and ethnicity. 197 (39%) patients in the point-of-care testing group and 155 (28%) in the control group tested positive for COVID-19 (difference 11·5% [95% CI 5·8-17·2], p=0·0001). Median time to results was 1·7 h (IQR 1·6-1·9) in the point-of-care testing group and 21·3 h (16·0-27·9) in the control group (difference 19·6 h [19·0-20·3], p<0·0001). A Cox proportional hazards regression model controlling for age, sex, time of presentation, and severity of illness also showed that time to results was significantly shorter in the point-of-care testing group than in the control group (hazard ratio 4023 [95% CI 545-29 696], p<0·0001).
interpretationPoint-of-care testing is associated with large reductions in time to results and could lead to improvements in infection control measures and patient flow compared with centralised laboratory PCR testing.
fundingUniversity Hospitals Southampton NHS Foundation Trust.
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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.