Temporal Variations in Seroprevalence of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 Infections by Race and Ethnicity in Arkansas

Joshua L Kennedy; J Craig Forrest; Sean G Young; Benjamin Amick; Mark Williams; Laura James; Jessica Snowden; Victor M Cardenas; Danielle Boothe; Catherine Kirkpatrick; Zeel Modi; Katherine Caid; Shana Owens; Marianne Kouassi; Ryan Mann; Claire Putt; Katherine Irish-Clardy; Michael Macechko; Ronald K Brimberry; Wendy N Nembhard; Pearl A McElfish; Ruofei Du; Jing Jin; Namvar Zohoori; Atul Kothari; Hoda Hagrass; Ericka Olgaard; Karl W Boehme

doi:10.1093/ofid/ofac154

Temporal Variations in Seroprevalence of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 Infections by Race and Ethnicity in Arkansas

Open Forum Infect Dis. 2022 Mar 23;9(5):ofac154. doi: 10.1093/ofid/ofac154. eCollection 2022 May.

Authors

Joshua L Kennedy^{1

2

3}, J Craig Forrest^{4

5

6}, Sean G Young⁷, Benjamin Amick⁸, Mark Williams⁸, Laura James¹, Jessica Snowden¹, Victor M Cardenas⁸, Danielle Boothe⁸, Catherine Kirkpatrick³, Zeel Modi², Katherine Caid², Shana Owens⁴, Marianne Kouassi⁴, Ryan Mann⁴, Claire Putt¹, Katherine Irish-Clardy⁹, Michael Macechko¹⁰, Ronald K Brimberry¹⁰, Wendy N Nembhard⁸, Pearl A McElfish², Ruofei Du¹¹, Jing Jin¹¹, Namvar Zohoori^{8

12}, Atul Kothari^{2

12

13}, Hoda Hagrass¹⁴, Ericka Olgaard¹⁴, Karl W Boehme^{4

5

6}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Pediatrics, College of Medicine, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock, Arkansas, USA.
² Department of Internal Medicine, College of Medicine, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock, Arkansas, USA.
³ Arkansas Children's Research Institute, Little Rock, Arkansas, USA.
⁴ Department of Microbiology and Immunology, College of Medicine, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock, Arkansas, USA.
⁵ Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock, Arkansas, USA.
⁶ Center for Microbial Pathogenesis and Host Inflammatory Responses, Little Rock, Arkansas, USA.
⁷ Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, Fay W. Boozman College of Public Health, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock, Arkansas, USA.
⁸ Department of Epidemiology, Fay W. Boozman College of Public Health, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock, Arkansas, USA.
⁹ Integrated Clinical Enterprise, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock, Arkansas, USA.
¹⁰ Department of Family Medicine and Preventative Services, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock, Arkansas, USA.
¹¹ Department of Biostatistics, College of Public Health, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock, Arkansas, USA.
¹² Arkansas Department of Health, Little Rock, Arkansas, USA.
¹³ Department of Bioinformatics, College of Medicine, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock, Arkansas, USA.
¹⁴ Department of Pathology, College of Medicine, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock, Arkansas, USA.

Abstract

Background: The aim of this study was to estimate severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection rates in the small rural state of Arkansas, using SARS-CoV-2 antibody prevalence as an indicator of infection.

Methods: We collected residual serum samples from adult outpatients seen at hospitals or clinics in Arkansas for non-coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)-related reasons. A total of 5804 samples were identified over 3 time periods: 15 August-5 September 2020 (time period 1), 12 September-24 October 2020 (time period 2), and 7 November-19 December 2020 (time period 3).

Results: The age-, sex-, race-, and ethnicity-standardized SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence during each period, from 2.6% in time period 1 to 4.1% in time period 2 and 7.4% in time period 3. No statistically significant difference in seroprevalence was found based on age, sex, or residence (urban vs rural). However, we found higher seroprevalence rates in each time period for Hispanics (17.6%, 20.6%, and 23.4%, respectively) and non-Hispanic Blacks (4.8%, 5.4%, and 8.9%, respectively) relative to non-Hispanic Whites (1.1%, 2.6%, and 5.5%, respectively).

Conclusions: Our data imply that the number of Arkansas residents infected with SARS-CoV-2 rose steadily from 2.6% in August to 7.4% in December 2020. There was no statistical difference in seroprevalence between rural and urban locales. Hispanics and Blacks had higher rates of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies than Whites, indicating that SARS-CoV-2 spread disproportionately in racial and ethnic minorities during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Keywords: COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; antibodies; health disparities; seroprevalence; temporal variation.