Covid lateral flow tests don’t work as well on children, according to a new study.
A team of British and German scientists have pooled together results from 17 old studies, involving over 6,000 kids, to examine the efficacy of lateral flows in detecting Covid amongst young people.
Writing in the British Medical Journal, their study claims that the rapid kits were not as effective in youngsters and students, even as all secondary school students in Britain are encouraged to use them twice weekly.
Their findings said that the tests only detected 64 per cent of Covid positive children.
When the children had symptoms of Covid, like a cough or change or loss to the sense of taste and smell, detection rates increased to 72 per cent.
This means only little over half the youngsters who had the virus were caught.
The authors said their findings meant that lateral flow tests would fail to meet the minimum standards of the UK’s Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency, the US’ Food and Drug Administration and the World Health Organisation.
These three bodies all require Covid testing kits to meet a minimum of around an 80 per cent success rate.
The study only included samples taken by professionally trained individuals and not self testing at home.
This comes as Omicron cases continue to fall, day-on-day, amidst hopes the fourth waves has peaked.
One of the authors, Dr Naomi Fujita-Rohwerder, of the Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care in Cologne, Germany, said: “Taking into account test-specific pooled results, no test included in this review fully satisfied the minimum performance requirements as recommended by WHO...the US…or the MHRA in the UK.
“This may affect the planned purpose of the broad implementation of testing programmes.”
The report only examined studies that used eight different lateral flow kits, so some of the 500+ tests available globally may be more accurate.
All of the studie looked at in the new analysis were published between the start of 2020 and May 2021 meaning they will not have contained the Omicron variant.
The researchers did not offer any reasons why the tests had performed less accurately on children, or a comparative study in adults.
Regular and freely available lateral flow tests are a key part of the UK’s response to Covid and containing it.
