ArticleScientific reports2022
Nationally representative results on SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence and testing in Germany at the end of 2020.
Article in Scientific reports, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 17 papers.
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Who cites it
17 citing papers in PubMed, 31 citations in OpenAlex.
- Estimating the effect of self-protection on transmission dynamics of SARS-CoV-2 in Germany in 2021: a modelling study.BMC public health · 2026Article
- Estimating the incidence of SARS-CoV-2 infections by jointly modelling seroprevalence, hospitalization and mortality data, February 2020 - January 2021, Belgium.Archives of public health = Archives belges de sante publique · 2026Article
- Article
- Recruitment of a probability-based general population health panel for public health research in Germany: the panel 'Health in Germany'.BMC medical research methodology · 2025Article
- Changing socioeconomic inequalities in the incidence and case fatality rates of COVID-19 in Germany, March 2020 through May 2022: an ecological study.BMC public health · 2025Article
- A population-based case-control study of COVID-19: methodological considerations on the role of testing bias.Journal of public health (Oxford, England) · 2025Article
- Parental Mental Health and Child Maltreatment in the COVID-19 Pandemic: Importance of Sampling in a Quantitative Statistical Study.Journal of medical Internet research · 2025Article
- A calibration of nucleic acid (PCR) by antibody (IgG) tests in Germany: the course of SARS-CoV-2 infections estimated.Frontiers in epidemiology · 2025Article
- Nationwide population-based infection- and vaccine-induced SARS-CoV-2 antibody seroprevalence in Germany in autumn/winter 2021/2022.Euro surveillance : bulletin Europeen sur les maladies transmissibles = European communicable disease bulletin · 2025Article
- SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence among people living with HIV in the German HIV-1 Seroconverter Cohort, 2020-2022.BMC infectious diseases · 2024Article
- Prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies and associated factors in the adult population of Belgium: a general population cohort study between March 2021 and April 2022.Archives of public health = Archives belges de sante publique · 2024Article
- A bead-based multiplex assay covering all coronaviruses pathogenic for humans for sensitive and specific surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 humoral immunity.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- Estimating the cumulative incidence of SARS-CoV-2 infection in Costa Rica: modelling seroprevalence data in a population-based cohort.Lancet regional health. Americas · 2023Article
- Reflections from the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany: lessons for global health.BMJ global health · 2023Article
- Monitoring the SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic: Prevalence of Antibodies in a Large, Repetitive Cross-Sectional Study of Blood Donors in Germany-Results from the SeBluCo Study 2020-2022.Pathogens (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- Estimating the share of SARS-CoV-2-immunologically naïve individuals in Germany up to June 2022.Epidemiology and infection · 2023Article
- COVID-19 as an Occupational Disease-Temporal Trends in the Number and Severity of Claims in Germany.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2023Article
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Authors and funding
19 authors at 4 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Pre-vaccine SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence data from Germany are scarce outside hotspots, and socioeconomic disparities remained largely unexplored. The nationwide representative RKI-SOEP study (15,122 participants, 18-99 years, 54% women) investigated seroprevalence and testing in a supplementary wave of the Socio-Economic-Panel conducted predominantly in October-November 2020. Self-collected oral-nasal swabs were PCR-positive in 0.4% and Euroimmun anti-SARS-CoV-2-S1-IgG ELISA from dry-capillary-blood antibody-positive in 1.3% (95% CI 0.9-1.7%, population-weighted, corrected for sensitivity = 0.811, specificity = 0.997). Seroprevalence was 1.7% (95% CI 1.2-2.3%) when additionally correcting for antibody decay. Overall infection prevalence including self-reports was 2.1%. We estimate 45% (95% CI 21-60%) undetected cases and lower detection in socioeconomically deprived districts. Prior SARS-CoV-2 testing was reported by 18% from the lower educational group vs. 25% and 26% from the medium and high educational group (p < 0.001, global test over three categories). Symptom-triggered test frequency was similar across educational groups. Routine testing was more common in low-educated adults, whereas travel-related testing and testing after contact with infected persons was more common in highly educated groups. This countrywide very low pre-vaccine seroprevalence in Germany at the end of 2020 can serve to evaluate the containment strategy. Our findings on social disparities indicate improvement potential in pandemic planning for people in socially disadvantaged circumstances.
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