School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia.
School of Biomedical Science, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia.
Clin Infect Dis. 2021 Jun 15;72(12):e1146-e1153. doi: 10.1093/cid/ciaa1825.
The role of children in the spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) remains highly controversial. To address this issue, we performed a meta-analysis of the published literature on household SARS-CoV-2 transmission clusters (n = 213 from 12 countries). Only 8 (3.8%) transmission clusters were identified as having a pediatric index case. Asymptomatic index cases were associated with a lower secondary attack in contacts than symptomatic index cases (estimate risk ratio [RR], 0.17; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.09-0.29). To determine the susceptibility of children to household infections the secondary attack rate in pediatric household contacts was assessed. The secondary attack rate in pediatric household contacts was lower than in adult household contacts (RR, 0.62; 95% CI, 0.42-0.91). These data have important implications for the ongoing management of the COVID-19 pandemic, including potential vaccine prioritization strategies.
儿童在严重急性呼吸综合征冠状病毒 2 (SARS-CoV-2) 传播中的作用仍存在很大争议。为了解决这个问题，我们对已发表的关于家庭 SARS-CoV-2 传播集群的文献进行了荟萃分析（来自 12 个国家的 213 例）。仅确定了 8 个（3.8%）传播集群有儿科索引病例。无症状的索引病例与接触者中的二次攻击率低于有症状的索引病例（估计风险比 [RR]，0.17；95%置信区间 [CI]，0.09-0.29）。为了确定儿童对家庭感染的易感性，评估了儿科家庭接触者的二次攻击率。儿科家庭接触者的二次攻击率低于成人家庭接触者（RR，0.62；95%CI，0.42-0.91）。这些数据对当前的 COVID-19 大流行管理具有重要意义，包括潜在的疫苗优先接种策略。
