Application of interruption-time series analysis to evaluate the impact of high-throughput sequencing on clinical virology

Objective To assess the quantitative impact of the application of high-throughput sequencing worldwide on clinical virology. Methods The following records from 2000 to 2018 were collected from National Center for Biotechnology Information: The number of complete genome of virus records per year; the number of virus discovery articles per year; the number of virus quasi-species articles per year; the number of viral infection gene signature articles per year. The method of interrupted time series was applied to analyze the trends of those records. Results Since the sequencing centers worldwide began to transit from the Sanger sequencing to the high-throughput sequencing technology in 2008, the annual value of records mentioned above increased by 3.755, 2.760, 6.195 and 3.885 times respectively. The long-term trends of change of each record are as follows: the number of complete genome of virus records increased by 1639.991 per year (P<0.001); the number of virus discovery articles increased by 83.091 per year (P<0.001); the number of virus quasi-species articles increased by 2.509 per year (P<0.001); the number of viral infection gene signature articles increased by 30.836 per year (P<0.001). Conclusions In 2008, the sequencing centers worldwide began to apply high-throughput sequencing technology which led to continuous decrease of the cost for sequencing. It result ed in not only increasingly enriched applications in clinical virology but also a long-term positive impact on the advance of clinical virology. Key words: Interruption-time series; Program evaluation; High-throughput sequencing; Clinical virology