Difference between real world practice and clinical research: A comparison of oropharyngeal and nasopharyngeal sampling data in influenza

Oropharyngeal (OP) sampling is one of the most commonly used methods for respiratory sampling, but its positivity rate in real practice compared with that of nasopharyngeal (NP) sampling is not fully known. The differences between OP and NP in practice and between practice and the literature were compared. In total, 2323 positive results from 6708 patients were recorded in the laboratory test system, and 15,021 positive results from 31,333 patients were recorded in the national report. The positivity rate changed from 2.3 % to 38.11 % after the sampling method was changed from OP to NP in the same setting. The difference between OP and NP (calculated as (NP-OP)/NP) varies from -7.73-28.57 % in the literature and from 61.35-94.59 % in practice. Real-world practice is complicated and thus different from strictly quality-controlled studies.