A Call to Improve Usability, Accuracy, and Equity of Self-Testing for COVID-19 and Other Rapid Diagnostic Tests

Paul K Drain; Alexandra K Adams; Larry Kessler; Matthew Thompson

doi:10.1089/heq.2023.0020

A Call to Improve Usability, Accuracy, and Equity of Self-Testing for COVID-19 and Other Rapid Diagnostic Tests

Health Equity. 2023 Nov 20;7(1):731-734. doi: 10.1089/heq.2023.0020. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Paul K Drain¹, Alexandra K Adams², Larry Kessler³, Matthew Thompson⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Global Health and Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA.
² Center for American Indian and Rural Health Equity (CAIRHE), Montana State University, Bozeman, Montana, USA.
³ Department of Health Systems and Population Health, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA.
⁴ Department of Family Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA.

Abstract

The increasing availability of rapid diagnostic self-tests (RDSTs) for COVID-19 has played an important and increasing role during the pandemic. However, for many underserved communities, RDSTs potential benefits are offset by problems with usability, accuracy, and equity. Given the increased need for and interest in home testing for acute and chronic diseases, including COVID-19, this piece offers ways that regulatory agencies, federal public health agencies, and test developers should engage with diverse communities to ensure equity throughout test development, implementation, and evaluation. Such engagement will ensure maximum personal and public health benefits for current and future RDSTs under real-world conditions.

Keywords: COVID-19; COVID-19 self-testing; rapid diagnostic testing; underserved populations.