Analytical performance of the point-of-care BIOSYNEX COVID-19 Ag BSS for the detection of SARS‐CoV‐2 nucleocapsid protein in nasopharyngeal swabs: a prospective field evaluation during the COVID-19 third wave in France

BACKGROUND: The accuracy and reliability of rapid diagnostic tests are critical for monitoring and diagnosing SARS-CoV-2 infection in the general population. This study aimed to evaluate the analytical performance of the BIOSYNEX COVID-19 Ag BSS (Biosynex Swiss SA, Fribourg, Switzerland) antigen rapid diagnostic test (BIOSYNEX Ag-RDT), which targets the SARS-CoV-2 N-nucleocapsid protein for the diagnosis of COVID-19. The Ag-RDT was compared with a real-time RT-PCR (rtRT-PCR) as gold standard for performance measurement. METHODS: Two nasopharyngeal flocked swabs were prospectively collected simultaneously in March and April 2021 from 967 individuals aged ≥ 18 years tested for SARS-CoV-2 in two private laboratories, Paris, France. RESULTS: Overall, the Ag-RDT demonstrated high sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), and negative predictive value (NPV) of 81.8%, 99.6%, 96.6%, and 97.5%, respectively. The agreement (97.0%), reliability assessed using Cohen’s κ-coefficient (0.87), and accuracy evaluated using Youden index (J) (81.6%) in detecting SARS-CoV-2 were high. The analytical performance of the Ag-RDT remained high when there was significant viral shedding (i.e., N gene C(t) values ≤ 33 on reference RT-PCR). The sensitivity was only 55.2% in case of low or very low viral excretion (C(t) > 33). CONCLUSIONS: The BIOSYNEX Ag-RDT is a promising, potentially simple diagnostic tool, especially in symptomatic COVID-19 patients with substantial viral excretion in the nasopharynx. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s15010-021-01723-5.