SARS-CoV-2 Antibody Response to Symptoms Indicative of COVID-19 in a Non-Infected Population in Japan: a Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

This study was aimed at investigating differences in antibody titers indicative of the presence of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) between those who had experienced symptoms of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and those who had not. We used data from a cross-sectional survey conducted at the National Cancer Center, Japan, of 434 individuals with no previous COVID-19 infection. The participants self-reported symptoms from the start of 2020. A generalized linear model was used to compare the mean SARS-CoV-2-specific IgG nucleocapsid protein (N-IgG) titer with estimated confidence intervals according to the onset of symptoms indicative of COVID-19. We observed a tendency toward an association between higher mean N-IgG titers and occurrence of high fever within the past 8 months (P = 0.053). The mean N-IgG titer was higher in those with prior symptoms (P = 0.03) and those with over three symptoms (P < 0.01) than in those without symptoms. The mean N-IgG titer was higher in those with symptoms and those with more symptoms that might indicate COVID-19 relative to those without symptoms, suggesting that transient but contained SARS-CoV-2 infection had occurred.