ArticleThe Journal of infection2020
Estimates of the rate of infection and asymptomatic COVID-19 disease in a population sample from SE England.
Article in The Journal of infection, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 34 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
34 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 67 citations in OpenAlex.
- Pooled it
- Signs and symptoms to determine if a patient presenting in primary care or hospital outpatient settings has COVID-19.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2022Pooled it
- The seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 during the first wave in Europe 2020: A systematic review.PloS one · 2021Pooled it
- Assessing the age specificity of infection fatality rates for COVID-19: systematic review, meta-analysis, and public policy implications.European journal of epidemiology · 2020Pooled it
- The Global COVID-19 Pandemic Experience: Innovation Through Environmental Assessment and Seropositivity Surveillance.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2025Article
- Article
- Metabolomic and gut microbiome profiles across the spectrum of community-based COVID and non-COVID disease.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- Pooled RNA-extraction-free testing of saliva for the detection of SARS-CoV-2.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- Seroprevalence and SARS-CoV-2 invasion in general populations: A scoping review over the first year of the pandemic.PloS one · 2023Article
- Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on patients with myasthenia gravis: A survey of the Myasthenia Gravis Foundation of America MG patient registry.Muscle & nerve · 2023Article
- Mathematical Modeling of COVID-19 Transmission and Intervention in South Korea: A Review of Literature.Yonsei medical journal · 2023Review
- Asymptomatic versus symptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection: a cross-sectional seroprevalence study.Tropical medicine and health · 2022Article
- Concordance of B- and T-cell responses to SARS-CoV-2 infection, irrespective of symptoms suggestive of COVID-19.Journal of medical virology · 2022Article
- Indicators of recent COVID-19 infection status: findings from a large occupational cohort of staff and postgraduate research students from a UK university.BMC public health · 2022Article
- Safety and immunogenicity of mRNA-LNP COVID-19 vaccine CVnCoV in Latin American adults: A phase 2 randomized study.Vaccine: X · 2022Article
- Prevalence and Dynamics of SARS-CoV-2 Antibodies in the Population of St. Petersburg, Russia.Journal of epidemiology and global health · 2022Article
- Nationally representative SARS-CoV-2 antibody prevalence estimates after the first epidemic wave in Mexico.Nature communications · 2022Article
- Calculating incidence of Influenza-like and COVID-like symptoms from Flutracking participatory survey data.MethodsX · 2022Article
- Nursing homes during the COVID-19 pandemic: a scoping review of challenges and responses.European geriatric medicine · 2021Article
- Disentangling post-vaccination symptoms from early COVID-19.EClinicalMedicine · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
31 authors at 4 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundUnderstanding of the true asymptomatic rate of infection of SARS-CoV-2 is currently limited, as is understanding of the population-based seroprevalence after the first wave of COVID-19 within the UK. The majority of data thus far come from hospitalised patients, with little focus on general population cases, or their symptoms.
methodsWe undertook enzyme linked immunosorbent assay characterisation of IgM and IgG responses against SARS-CoV-2 spike glycoprotein and nucleocapsid protein of 431 unselected general-population participants of the TwinsUK cohort from South-East England, aged 19-86 (median age 48; 85% female). 382 participants completed prospective logging of 14 COVID-19 related symptoms via the COVID Symptom Study App, allowing consideration of serology alongside individual symptoms, and a predictive algorithm for estimated COVID-19 previously modelled on PCR positive individuals from a dataset of over 2 million.
findingsWe demonstrated a seroprevalence of 12% (51 participants of 431). Of 48 seropositive individuals with full symptom data, nine (19%) were fully asymptomatic, and 16 (27%) were asymptomatic for core COVID-19 symptoms: fever, cough or anosmia. Specificity of anosmia for seropositivity was 95%, compared to 88% for fever cough and anosmia combined. 34 individuals in the cohort were predicted to be Covid-19 positive using the App algorithm, and of those, 18 (52%) were seropositive.
interpretationSeroprevalence amongst adults from London and South-East England was 12%, and 19% of seropositive individuals with prospective symptom logging were fully asymptomatic throughout the study. Anosmia demonstrated the highest symptom specificity for SARS-CoV-2 antibody response.
fundingNIHR BRC, CDRF, ZOE global LTD, RST-UKRI/MRC.
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What OpenQuestion holds
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.