Diagnostic efficacy of electrochemical biosensor compared to RT-PCR for diagnosis of Covid-19: a systematic review

Abstract

In December 2019, the new coronavirus that was named SARS-CoV-2 was identified in China. The virus spreaded quickly and in March of 2020 it was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization. Due to the initial lack of rapid diagnoses and effective treatments, the health systems were overloaded as a consequence of the high number of infected and severe cases. The diagnostic techniques currently available have limitations, for this reason, the search for new methods with sensitive, fast, cheap and locally used techniques, such as electrochemical biosensors, has been widely explored. Given the advantages of developing electrochemical biosensors for sensitive and selective diagnosis, this systematic review aimed to search for publications on the subject and answer the following question: The diagnosis of COVID-19 performed through an electrochemical biosensor, in individuals with suspected disease is it as efficient as that performed by RT-PCR? A study protocol was developed following the PRISMA-DTA guidelines and registered with PROSPERO under the approval code CRD42021282561. Searches were carried out in six electronic databases, inclusion and exclusion criteria were applied and seventeen publications were selected for this review.  Based on the data, the analyse of risk was done using QUADAS-2. The results were presented in a descriptive qualitative manner it was not possible to carry out a meta-analysis.