Department of Biostatistics, Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University, 180 Fenglin Road, Xuhui District, Shanghai, 200032, China.
Evidence-based Medicine Center, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200032, China.
BMC Infect Dis. 2021 Feb 27;21(1):226. doi: 10.1186/s12879-021-05874-6.
The lab-confirmed interval is the date from lab confirmation in a core case (infector) to lab confirmation in a second case (infectee); however, its distribution and application are seldom reported. This study aimed to investigate the lab-confirmed interval and its application in the preliminary evaluation of the strength of disease prevention and control measures.
Taking European countries and Chinese provinces outside Hubei as examples, we identified 63 infector-infectee pairs from European countries from Wikipedia, and 103 infector-infectee pairs from official public sources in Chinese provinces outside Hubei. The lab-confirmed intervals were obtained through analysis of the collected data and adopting the bootstrap method.
The mean lab-confirmed interval was 2.6 (95% CI: 2.1-3.1) days for Europe and 2.6 (95% CI: 1.9-3.3) days for China outside Hubei, which were shorter than the reported serial intervals. For index patients aged ≥60 years old, the lab-confirmed interval in Europe was slightly longer (mean: 2.9; 95% CI: 2.0-3.6) and obviously longer in China outside Hubei (mean: 3.8; 95% CI: 1.9-5.5) than that for patients aged < 60 years.
Investigation of the lab-confirmed interval can provide additional information on the characteristics of emergent outbreaks and can be a feasible indication to evaluate the strength of prevention and control measures. When the lab-confirmed interval was shorter than the serial interval, it could objectively reflect improvements in laboratory capacity and the surveillance of close contacts.
实验室确认间隔是指从核心病例（感染者）的实验室确认日期到第二例病例（受感染者）的实验室确认日期；然而，其分布和应用很少有报道。本研究旨在调查实验室确认间隔及其在初步评估疾病预防控制措施力度中的应用。
以欧洲国家和中国湖北省外的省份为例，我们从维基百科中确定了来自欧洲国家的 63 例感染者-受感染者对，以及来自中国湖北省外官方公共来源的 103 例感染者-受感染者对。通过收集数据的分析和采用自举法获得实验室确认间隔。
欧洲的实验室确认间隔平均值为 2.6（95%CI：2.1-3.1）天，中国湖北省外的实验室确认间隔平均值为 2.6（95%CI：1.9-3.3）天，均短于报告的序列间隔。对于年龄≥60 岁的索引病例，欧洲的实验室确认间隔略长（平均值：2.9；95%CI：2.0-3.6），而中国湖北省外的实验室确认间隔明显更长（平均值：3.8；95%CI：1.9-5.5）。
对实验室确认间隔的调查可以提供关于紧急暴发特征的额外信息，并且可以作为评估预防和控制措施力度的可行指标。当实验室确认间隔短于序列间隔时，它可以客观地反映实验室能力和密切接触者监测的改善。
