The Proportion of SARS-CoV-2 Infections That Are Asymptomatic
Authors: Ali Haider Bangash
Journal: Annals of Internal Medicine (2021)

LettersSeptember 2021The Proportion of SARS-CoV-2 Infections That Are AsymptomaticFREEAli Haider BangashAli Haider BangashSTMU Shifa College of Medicine, Islamabad, PakistanSearch for more papers by this authorAuthor, Article, and Disclosure Informationhttps://doi.org/10.7326/L21-0489 SectionsAboutVisual AbstractPDF ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack CitationsPermissions ShareFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail TO THE EDITOR: I commend Oran and Topol (1) for their serious efforts to explore the prevalence of asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infections. However, they included data from preprint servers that have not yet been peer-reviewed for the synthesis of their conclusions.The COVID-19 pandemic has led to an immense rise in the amount of literature being published, and preprint servers provide the optimal platform for accelerated dissemination of scientific research concerning this global health emergency (2). Yet, no peer-review process whatsoever takes place while screening manuscripts submitted for publication at a preprint server. This has led to studies with flawed methods and biased conclusions being published by these servers (3). Thus, when conclusions are synthesized by evaluating data from a preprint server alongside data taken from research articles published in peer-reviewed journals that have undergone rigorous evaluation by reviewers and editors, the important status that the peer-review process has earned in the global standards of scientific research publishing becomes unintentionally blemished. This circumstance may lead the scientific community to disregard the findings of research studies that include data from preprint servers to synthesize conclusions. The authors of such studies consequently may not achieve their sincere objective of positively contributing to the scientific discourse.It is suggested that Oran and Topol revise the methods of their systematic review such that only peer-reviewed research articles are included for data extraction and subsequent qualitative systematic review. Including only peer-reviewed studies would translate into a higher quality of synthesized conclusions that would be better received by the scientific community. An alternative would be to revise the systematic review once all of the included preprint articles have been either published in peer-reviewed journals or retracted secondary to any reason.References1. Oran DP, Topol EJ. The proportion of SARS-CoV-2 infections that are asymptomatic: a systematic review. Ann Intern Med. 2021;174:655-62. [PMID: 33481642] doi:10.7326/M20-6976 LinkGoogle Scholar2. Majumder MS, Mandl KD. Early in the epidemic: impact of preprints on global discourse about COVID-19 transmissibility. Lancet Glob Health. 2020;8:e627-30. [PMID: 32220289] doi:10.1016/S2214-109X(20)30113-3 CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar3. Teixeira da Silva JA. Silently withdrawn or retracted preprints related to Covid-19 are a scholarly threat and a potential public health risk: theoretical arguments and suggested recommendations. Online Information Review. Preprint posted online 22 October 2020. doi:10.1108/OIR-08-2020-0371 Google Scholar Comments 0 Comments Sign In to Submit A Comment Author, Article, and Disclosure InformationAuthors: Ali Haider BangashAffiliations: STMU Shifa College of Medicine, Islamabad, PakistanNote: Mr. Bangash is a member of Working Group 3 of COST Action EVidence-Based RESearch (EVBRES).Disclosures: Disclosures can be viewed at www.acponline.org/authors/icmje/ConflictOfInterestForms.do?msNum=L21-0489. PreviousarticleNextarticle Advertisement FiguresReferencesRelatedDetailsSee AlsoThe Proportion of SARS-CoV-2 Infections That Are Asymptomatic Daniel P. Oran and Eric J. Topol The Proportion of SARS-CoV-2 Infections That Are Asymptomatic Fan Yang , Dan Ma The Proportion of SARS-CoV-2 Infections That Are Asymptomatic Daniel P. Oran , Eric J. Topol Metrics September 2021Volume 174, Issue 9 Page: 1344 ePublished: 21 September 2021 Issue Published: September 2021 Copyright & PermissionsCopyright © 2021 by American College of Physicians. All Rights Reserved.PDF downloadLoading ...