Department of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, Friedrich-Alexander-University (FAU) Erlangen-Nürnberg, Erlangen, Germany.
Institute of Clinical and Molecular Virology, Friedrich-Alexander University (FAU) Erlangen-Nürnberg, Erlangen, Germany.
Clin Chem Lab Med. 2022 Feb 25;60(6):941-951. doi: 10.1515/cclm-2022-0037. Print 2022 May 25.
The assessment of SARS-CoV-2 infections in children is still challenging, but essential for appropriate political decisions. The aim of this study was to investigate whether residual blood samples can be used for SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence monitoring in pediatrics.
In this repeated cross-sectional cohort study, anonymous residual blood samples from pediatric patients aged 0-17 years were collected in three time-periods (Oct.-Nov. 2020, April 2021, and June-July 2021) and analyzed for SARS-CoV-2 Spike protein (anti-S) and nucleocapsid (anti-N) antibodies using commercial antibody assays. 28 reactive samples were used to compare antibody levels with a pseudotyped neutralization assay. The results were further compared to the official national COVID-19 surveillance data to calculate the number of unreported cases.
In total, n=2,626 individual blood samples were analyzed. In this unvaccinated pediatric cohort anti-S and anti-N antibody seroprevalence increased over the three time periods (anti-S: 1.38-9.16%, and 14.59%; anti-N: 1.26%, to 6.19%, and 8.56%). Compared to the national surveillance data this leads to a 3.93-5.66-fold increase in the number of unreported cases. However, a correlation between the cumulative incidence of the individual provinces and our assigned data was found (r=0.74, p=0.0151). In addition, reactive samples with anti-S and anti-N and samples with only anti-S showed neutralization capabilities (11/14 and 8/14, respectively). Anti-S levels were not significantly different between age groups and sexes (all p>0.05).
The present study suggests that residual blood samples from routine laboratory chemistry could be included in the estimation of the total SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence in children.
评估儿童的 SARS-CoV-2 感染仍然具有挑战性，但对于做出适当的政治决策至关重要。本研究旨在探讨残留血样本是否可用于儿科 SARS-CoV-2 血清流行率监测。
在这项重复的横断面队列研究中，我们收集了三个时间点（2020 年 10 月至 11 月、2021 年 4 月和 2021 年 6 月至 7 月）来自 0-17 岁儿科患者的匿名残留血样本，并使用商业抗体检测试剂盒分析 SARS-CoV-2 刺突蛋白（抗-S）和核衣壳（抗-N）抗体。我们使用 28 份有反应性的样本比较了抗体水平与假型中和测定。结果进一步与官方国家 COVID-19 监测数据进行比较，以计算未报告病例的数量。
总共分析了 2626 份个体血样。在这个未接种疫苗的儿科队列中，抗-S 和抗-N 抗体血清阳性率在三个时间点均有所增加（抗-S：1.38-9.16%和 14.59%；抗-N：1.26%，至 6.19%和 8.56%）。与国家监测数据相比，这导致未报告病例的数量增加了 3.93-5.66 倍。然而，我们发现个体省份的累积发病率与我们分配的数据之间存在相关性（r=0.74，p=0.0151）。此外，具有抗-S 和抗-N 的有反应性样本和仅具有抗-S 的样本具有中和能力（分别为 11/14 和 8/14）。抗-S 水平在年龄组和性别之间没有显著差异（均 p>0.05）。
本研究表明，常规实验室化学残留血样本可纳入儿童 SARS-CoV-2 血清总流行率的估计。
