FEASIBILITY AND ACCEPTABILITY OF SELF-COLLECTED RAPID ANTIGEN TESTS IN THE COMMUNITY AND AT HOME

INTRO: Uptake of SARS-CoV-2 rapid antigen tests (RATs) for self-testing has been high following authorisation by the Australian Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA). However, there are no published Australian data assessing feasibility and compliance with home-based rapid antigen testing. The aim of this study was to determine the acceptability of daily rapid antigen self-testing. METHODS: We prospectively recruited a cohort of hospital employees and students from primary and secondary school to perform daily self-testing using RATs in the home over 14 consecutive days. Participants consenting to the study were supplied with 15 Roche SARS-CoV-2 Antigen Nasal Self Tests, 3 saliva swabs for self-collection for RT-PCR and were asked to record results and answer a daily survey using a smartphone application. FINDINGS: 38% (26/68) of the cohort were compliant to 14 consecutive days of testing; this was significantly higher in students (71%) than hospital employees (28%). The median number of tests performed over 14 consecutive days was 11 and time to first missed test was a median 5.5 days. The most common reasons for missing days were “I forgot” (37.5%) and “too busy” (8.9%). Ease of self- nasal swabbing, self-nasal testing. performing the test and using the app were rated as comfortable/very comfortable in over 80% of the cohort. DISCUSSION: Most study participants in this Australian cohort were compliant with frequent home-based RATs. By study end most participants (93.8%) found the testing process acceptable/very acceptable. There is need for further work on the cost-effectiveness and impact of self-tested RATs under a range of specific uses and conditions. CONCLUSION: This study provided valuable information on acceptability and feasibility of regular home-based testing which could be applied to other diseases. Ongoing community engagement with clear information on RATs including accuracy and use cases is important for decision-making and addressing concerns, particularly for linguistically diverse peoples.