Department of Epidemiology, Center for Communicable Disease Dynamics, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, United States of America.
Harvard College, Cambridge, MA, United States of America.
PLoS One. 2021 Nov 4;16(11):e0258516. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0258516. eCollection 2021.
Serological studies rely on the recruitment of representative cohorts; however, such efforts are specially complicated by the conditions surrounding the COVID19 pandemic.
We aimed to design and implement a fully remote methodology for conducting safe serological surveys that also allow for the engagement of representative study populations.
This design was well-received and effective. 2,066 participants ≥18 years old were enrolled, reflecting the ethnic and racial composition of Massachusetts. >70% of them reported being satisfied/extremely satisfied with the online enrollment and at-home self-collection of blood samples. While 18.6% reported some discomfort experienced with the collection process, 72.2% stated that they would be willing to test weekly if enrolled in a long-term study.
High engagement and positive feedback from participants, as well as the quality of self-collected specimens, point to the usefulness of this fully remote, self-collection-based study design for future safer and efficient population-level serological surveys.
血清学研究依赖于有代表性的队列招募；然而，在 COVID19 大流行的情况下，此类工作特别复杂。
我们旨在设计和实施一种完全远程的方法，以进行安全的血清学调查，同时也允许有代表性的研究人群参与。
该设计广受欢迎且效果良好。共招募了 2066 名≥18 岁的参与者，反映了马萨诸塞州的种族和种族构成。超过 70%的人表示对在线注册和在家自行采集血样非常满意/极其满意。虽然 18.6%的人报告说在采集过程中感到有些不适，但 72.2%的人表示如果参加长期研究，他们愿意每周进行检测。
参与者的高参与度和积极反馈，以及自行采集样本的质量，表明这种完全远程、基于自行采集的研究设计对于未来更安全、更有效的人群血清学调查具有实用性。
