Asymptomatic transmission in the COVID-19 pandemic: a systematic review and Meta-analysis

LI Zi-shuai; LIN Jian-sheng; PU Rui; ZHAO Yue; CHEN Yi-fan; CAO Guang-wen

doi:10.16462/j.cnki.zhjbkz.2021.04.014

Volume 25 Issue 4

May 2021

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Article Navigation > CHINESE JOURNAL OF DISEASE CONTROL & PREVENTION > 2021 > 25(4): 445-453

LI Zi-shuai, LIN Jian-sheng, PU Rui, ZHAO Yue, CHEN Yi-fan, CAO Guang-wen. Asymptomatic transmission in the COVID-19 pandemic: a systematic review and Meta-analysis[J]. CHINESE JOURNAL OF DISEASE CONTROL & PREVENTION, 2021, 25(4): 445-453. doi: 10.16462/j.cnki.zhjbkz.2021.04.014

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LI Zi-shuai, LIN Jian-sheng, PU Rui, ZHAO Yue, CHEN Yi-fan, CAO Guang-wen. Asymptomatic transmission in the COVID-19 pandemic: a systematic review and Meta-analysis[J]. CHINESE JOURNAL OF DISEASE CONTROL & PREVENTION, 2021, 25(4): 445-453. doi: 10.16462/j.cnki.zhjbkz.2021.04.014

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Asymptomatic transmission in the COVID-19 pandemic: a systematic review and Meta-analysis

doi: 10.16462/j.cnki.zhjbkz.2021.04.014

1.
Department of Epidemiology, Faculty of Naval Medicine, Naval Medical University, Shanghai 200433, China
2.
School of Medicine, Jinan University, Guangzhou 510632, China

LI Zi-shuai and LIN Jian-sheng contributed equally to this article

Funds:

National Natural Science Foundation of China 82041022

Research Foundation of Science and Technology Commission of Shanghai Municipality 20JC1410200

Research Foundation of Science and Technology Commission of Shanghai Municipality 20431900404

More Information

Corresponding author: CAO Guang-wen, E-mail: gcao@smmu.edu.cn
Received Date: 2020-07-16
Rev Recd Date: 2020-10-28

Available Online: 2021-05-11

Publish Date: 2021-04-10

Abstract

Abstract

Objective To determine the differences in the epidemiological characteristics of asymptomatic patients with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients. Methods The relevant data of asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 transmission literature in PubMed, Web of Science, CNKI, VIP medicine and Wanfang medical database were extracted as of August 1, 2020. Epidemiological information was screened and extracted according to pre-established inclusion and exclusion criteria. Age, gender, virus shedding duration and virual load of asymptomatic carriers were summarized and analyzed. Results A total of 38 articles met the criteria, 17 of which were asymptomatic case reports related to the virus shedding duration. Compared with symptomatic infected persons, asymptomatic individuals were younger [Weighted Mean Difference (WMD), WMD=-5.27, 95% CI: -9.78--0.76, P < 0.001] and the viral load was lower (WMD=2.36, 95% CI: 0.65-4.07, P=0.007). The virus shedding duration of asymptomatic individuals (median=11 days) was shorter than symptomatic patients (median=16 days). Conclusion Asymptomatic individuals with SARS-CoV-2 were younger, had a lower viral load and a shorter virus shedding duration than COVID-19 patients.
- SARS-CoV-2,
- COVID-19,
- Asymptomatic transmission,
- Virus shedding duration,
- Cycle threshold values

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References(52)

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