Public Health England (PHE) are an executive agency of the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) which is the expert national public health agency which fulfills the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care’s statutory duty to protect health and address inequalities, and executes his/ her power to promote the health and well-being of the nation.
PHE have recently evaluated vein taken blood tests for both the Abbott Architect Antibody test and the Roche Elecsys Antibody test and come up with the following conclusions-
Abbott Architect Antibody Test – Conducted at PHE Colindale between 4/5/2020 and 7/5/2020. 96 samples from convalescent patients and 759 negative samples were included in the evaluation:
- Specificity of 100% (95%CI 99.07-100.0). That is, all negative samples tested negative by the assay. The manufacturer reported a specificity of 99.6% (95%CI 99.1-99.9).
- Sensitivity of 92.7% (95%CI 85.6-97.0), with a Sensitivity of 93.4% (95%CI 85.3-97.8) for samples ≥14 days post symptom onset. The sensitivity of the assay at ≥21 days post symptom onset is 93.9% (95%CI 86.3-98.0). That is, 93.9% of samples were correctly identified by this assay. The manufacturer reports a sensitivity of 100% (95%CI 95.9-100) for samples ≥14 post symptom onset.
Roche Elecsys Antibody Test – Conducted at PHE Porton between 5/5/2020 and 7/5/2020. 93 samples from convalescent patients and 472 negative samples were included in the evaluation:
- Specificity of 100% (95%CI 99.1-100.0). That is, all negative samples tested negative by the assay. The manufacturer reported a specificity of 99.8% (95%CI 99.7-99.9).
- Sensitivity of 83.9% (95%CI 74.8-90.7), with a sensitivity ≥14 days of 87.0% (95%CI 77.4-93.6). The sensitivity of the assay at ≥21 days post symptom onset is 87.7% (95%CI 77.9-94.2). The manufacturer reported a sensitivity of 100% (95%CI 88.1-100) for samples ≥14 days post-PCR confirmation.
There does not appear to be a significant difference between the two above tests. Overall, The Abbott Architect vein test appears to have an improved Sensitivity, however, the Roche test appears to have better Sensitivity if the test is performed more than 41 days after onset of symptoms. However, both manufacturers state 100% Sensitivity if the test is performed at least 21 days after onset of symptoms.
We offer all our patients the Abbott Antibody venous blood test [£49].