Hossein Poustchi, Maryam Darvishian, Zahra Mohammadi, Amaneh Shayanrad, Alireza Delavari, Ayad Bahadorimonfared, Saeid Eslami, Shaghayegh Haghjooy Javanmard, Ebrahim Shakiba, Mohammad Hossein Somi, Amir Emami, Nader Saki, Ahmad Hormati, Alireza Ansari-Moghaddam, Majid Saeedi, Fatemeh Ghasemi-Kebria, Iraj Mohebbi, Fariborz Mansour-Ghanaei, Manoochehr Karami, Hamid Sharifi, Farhad Pourfarzi, Nasrollah Veisi, Reza Ghadimi, Sareh Eghtesad, Ahmadreza Niavarani, Ali Ali Asgari, Anahita Sadeghi, Majid Sorouri, Amir Anushiravani, Mohammad Amani, Soudeh Kaveh, Akbar Feizesani, Payam Tabarsi, Hossein Keyvani, Melineh Markarian, Fatemeh Shafighian, Alireza Sima, Alireza Sadjadi, Amir Reza Radmard, Ali H Mokdad, Maryam Sharafkhah, Reza Malekzadeh
BACKGROUND: Rapid increases in cases of COVID-19 were observed in multiple cities in Iran towards the start of the pandemic. However, the true infection rate remains unknown. We aimed to assess the seroprevalence of antibodies against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in 18 cities of Iran as an indicator of the infection rate. METHODS: In this population-based cross-sectional study, we randomly selected and invited study participants from the general population (from lists of people registered with the Iranian electronic health record system or health-care centres) and a high-risk population of individuals likely to have close social contact with SARS-CoV-2-infected individuals through their occupation (from employee lists provided by relevant agencies or companies, such as supermarket chains) across 18 cities in 17 Iranian provinces...
December 15, 2020: Lancet Infectious Diseases