Adherence of SARS-CoV-2 Seroepidemiologic Studies to the ROSES-S Reporting Guideline During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Brianna Cheng; Emma Loeschnik; Anabel Selemon; Reza Hosseini; Jane Yuan; Harriet Ware; Xiaomeng Ma; Christian Cao; Isabel Bergeri; Lorenzo Subissi; Hannah C Lewis; Tyler Williamson; Paul Ronksley; Rahul K Arora; Mairead Whelan; Niklas Bobrovitz

doi:10.1111/irv.13283

Adherence of SARS-CoV-2 Seroepidemiologic Studies to the ROSES-S Reporting Guideline During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Influenza Other Respir Viruses. 2024 Jul;18(7):e13283. doi: 10.1111/irv.13283.

Authors

Brianna Cheng¹, Emma Loeschnik², Anabel Selemon³, Reza Hosseini³, Jane Yuan², Harriet Ware³, Xiaomeng Ma⁴, Christian Cao¹, Isabel Bergeri⁵, Lorenzo Subissi⁵, Hannah C Lewis⁵, Tyler Williamson^{3

6}, Paul Ronksley⁶, Rahul K Arora^{3

7}, Mairead Whelan³, Niklas Bobrovitz^{3

8}

Affiliations

¹ Temerty Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
² Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, Western University, London, Ontario, Canada.
³ Centre for Health Informatics, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
⁴ Institute of Health Policy Management and Evaluation, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
⁵ Department of Epidemic and Pandemic Prevention and Preparedness, Health Emergencies Programme, World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland.
⁶ Department of Community Health Sciences, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
⁷ Institute of Biomedical Engineering, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
⁸ Department of Emergency Medicine, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

Abstract

Background: Complete reporting of seroepidemiologic studies is critical to their utility in evidence synthesis and public health decision making. The Reporting of Seroepidemiologic studies-SARS-CoV-2 (ROSES-S) guideline is a checklist that aims to improve reporting in SARS-CoV-2 seroepidemiologic studies. Adherence to the ROSES-S guideline has not yet been evaluated.

Objectives: This study aims to evaluate the completeness of SARS-CoV-2 seroepidemiologic study reporting by the ROSES-S guideline during the COVID-19 pandemic, determine whether guideline publication was associated with reporting completeness, and identify study characteristics associated with reporting completeness.

Methods: A random sample from the SeroTracker living systematic review database was evaluated. For each reporting item in the guideline, the percentage of studies that were adherent was calculated, as well as median and interquartile range (IQR) adherence across all items and by item domain. Beta regression analyses were used to evaluate predictors of adherence to ROSES-S.

Results: One hundred and ninety-nine studies were analyzed. Median adherence was 48.1% (IQR 40.0%-55.2%) per study, with overall adherence ranging from 8.8% to 72.7%. The laboratory methods domain had the lowest median adherence (33.3% [IQR 25.0%-41.7%]). The discussion domain had the highest median adherence (75.0% [IQR 50.0%-100.0%]). Reporting adherence to ROSES-S before and after guideline publication did not significantly change. Publication source (p < 0.001), study risk of bias (p = 0.001), and sampling method (p = 0.004) were significantly associated with adherence.

Conclusions: Completeness of reporting in SARS-CoV-2 seroepidemiologic studies was suboptimal. Publication of the ROSES-S guideline was not associated with changes in reporting practices. Authors should improve adherence to the ROSES-S guideline with support from stakeholders.

Keywords: SARS‐CoV‐2; guideline adherence; research design; seroepidemiologic studies.

Publication types

Review

MeSH terms

COVID-19* / epidemiology
Guideline Adherence* / statistics & numerical data
Humans
Pandemics
SARS-CoV-2* / immunology
Seroepidemiologic Studies

Abstract

Publication types

MeSH terms

Grants and funding