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Peter Armann J, Blankenburg J, Czyborra P, Doenhardt M, Horst T, Schneider J, Gano C, Berner R. SARS-CoV-2 Immunity Gap Among Schoolchildren and Teachers in the Summer of 2022. Dtsch Arztebl Int 2022; 119:800-801. [PMID: 36727650 PMCID: PMC9902890 DOI: 10.3238/arztebl.m2022.0307] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/07/2022] [Revised: 06/07/2022] [Accepted: 08/16/2022] [Indexed: 02/04/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Jakob Peter Armann
- Department for Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine, University Hospital and Medical Faculty Carl Gustav, Dresden University of Technology, Dresden,
| | - Judith Blankenburg
- Department for Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine, University Hospital and Medical Faculty Carl Gustav, Dresden University of Technology, Dresden,
| | - Paula Czyborra
- Department for Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine, University Hospital and Medical Faculty Carl Gustav, Dresden University of Technology, Dresden,
| | - Maren Doenhardt
- Department for Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine, University Hospital and Medical Faculty Carl Gustav, Dresden University of Technology, Dresden,
| | - Theresa Horst
- Department for Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine, University Hospital and Medical Faculty Carl Gustav, Dresden University of Technology, Dresden,
| | - Josephine Schneider
- Department for Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine, University Hospital and Medical Faculty Carl Gustav, Dresden University of Technology, Dresden,
| | - Christin Gano
- Department for Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine, University Hospital and Medical Faculty Carl Gustav, Dresden University of Technology, Dresden,
| | - Reinhard Berner
- Department for Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine, University Hospital and Medical Faculty Carl Gustav, Dresden University of Technology, Dresden,
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Roessler M, Tesch F, Batram M, Jacob J, Loser F, Weidinger O, Wende D, Vivirito A, Toepfner N, Ehm F, Seifert M, Nagel O, König C, Jucknewitz R, Armann JP, Berner R, Treskova-Schwarzbach M, Hertle D, Scholz S, Stern S, Ballesteros P, Baßler S, Bertele B, Repschläger U, Richter N, Riederer C, Sobik F, Schramm A, Schulte C, Wieler L, Walker J, Scheidt-Nave C, Schmitt J. Post-COVID-19-associated morbidity in children, adolescents, and adults: A matched cohort study including more than 157,000 individuals with COVID-19 in Germany. PLoS Med 2022; 19:e1004122. [PMID: 36355754 DOI: 10.1101/2021.10.21.21265133] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/22/2022] [Accepted: 10/12/2022] [Indexed: 05/27/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Long-term health sequelae of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) are a major public health concern. However, evidence on post-acute COVID-19 syndrome (post-COVID-19) is still limited, particularly for children and adolescents. Utilizing comprehensive healthcare data on approximately 46% of the German population, we investigated post-COVID-19-associated morbidity in children/adolescents and adults. METHODS AND FINDINGS We used routine data from German statutory health insurance organizations covering the period between January 1, 2019 and December 31, 2020. The base population included all individuals insured for at least 1 day in 2020. Based on documented diagnoses, we identified individuals with polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-confirmed COVID-19 through June 30, 2020. A control cohort was assigned using 1:5 exact matching on age and sex, and propensity score matching on preexisting medical conditions. The date of COVID-19 diagnosis was used as index date for both cohorts, which were followed for incident morbidity outcomes documented in the second quarter after index date or later.Overall, 96 prespecified outcomes were aggregated into 13 diagnosis/symptom complexes and 3 domains (physical health, mental health, and physical/mental overlap domain). We used Poisson regression to estimate incidence rate ratios (IRRs) with 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs). The study population included 11,950 children/adolescents (48.1% female, 67.2% aged between 0 and 11 years) and 145,184 adults (60.2% female, 51.1% aged between 18 and 49 years). The mean follow-up time was 236 days (standard deviation (SD) = 44 days, range = 121 to 339 days) in children/adolescents and 254 days (SD = 36 days, range = 93 to 340 days) in adults. COVID-19 and control cohort were well balanced regarding covariates. The specific outcomes with the highest IRR and an incidence rate (IR) of at least 1/100 person-years in the COVID-19 cohort in children and adolescents were malaise/fatigue/exhaustion (IRR: 2.28, 95% CI: 1.71 to 3.06, p < 0.01, IR COVID-19: 12.58, IR Control: 5.51), cough (IRR: 1.74, 95% CI: 1.48 to 2.04, p < 0.01, IR COVID-19: 36.56, IR Control: 21.06), and throat/chest pain (IRR: 1.72, 95% CI: 1.39 to 2.12, p < 0.01, IR COVID-19: 20.01, IR Control: 11.66). In adults, these included disturbances of smell and taste (IRR: 6.69, 95% CI: 5.88 to 7.60, p < 0.01, IR COVID-19: 12.42, IR Control: 1.86), fever (IRR: 3.33, 95% CI: 3.01 to 3.68, p < 0.01, IR COVID-19: 11.53, IR Control: 3.46), and dyspnea (IRR: 2.88, 95% CI: 2.74 to 3.02, p < 0.01, IR COVID-19: 43.91, IR Control: 15.27). For all health outcomes combined, IRs per 1,000 person-years in the COVID-19 cohort were significantly higher than those in the control cohort in both children/adolescents (IRR: 1.30, 95% CI: 1.25 to 1.35, p < 0.01, IR COVID-19: 436.91, IR Control: 335.98) and adults (IRR: 1.33, 95% CI: 1.31 to 1.34, p < 0.01, IR COVID-19: 615.82, IR Control: 464.15). The relative magnitude of increased documented morbidity was similar for the physical, mental, and physical/mental overlap domain. In the COVID-19 cohort, IRs were significantly higher in all 13 diagnosis/symptom complexes in adults and in 10 diagnosis/symptom complexes in children/adolescents. IRR estimates were similar for age groups 0 to 11 and 12 to 17. IRs in children/adolescents were consistently lower than those in adults. Limitations of our study include potentially unmeasured confounding and detection bias. CONCLUSIONS In this retrospective matched cohort study, we observed significant new onset morbidity in children, adolescents, and adults across 13 prespecified diagnosis/symptom complexes, following COVID-19 infection. These findings expand the existing available evidence on post-COVID-19 conditions in younger age groups and confirm previous findings in adults. TRIAL REGISTRATION ClinicalTrials.gov https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT05074953.
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Affiliation(s)
- Martin Roessler
- Center for Evidence-Based Healthcare (ZEGV), University Hospital Carl Gustav Carus and Carl Gustav Carus Faculty of Medicine, TU Dresden, Dresden, Germany
| | - Falko Tesch
- Center for Evidence-Based Healthcare (ZEGV), University Hospital Carl Gustav Carus and Carl Gustav Carus Faculty of Medicine, TU Dresden, Dresden, Germany
| | - Manuel Batram
- Vandage GmbH, Bielefeld, Germany and Faculty for Business Administration and Economics, Bielefeld University, Bielefeld, Germany
| | - Josephine Jacob
- InGef-Institute for Applied Health Research Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | | | | | - Danny Wende
- BARMER Institut für Gesundheitssystemforschung (bifg), Berlin, Germany
| | - Annika Vivirito
- InGef-Institute for Applied Health Research Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Nicole Toepfner
- Department of Pediatrics, University Hospital Carl Gustav Carus and Carl Gustav Carus Faculty of Medicine, TU Dresden, Dresden, Germany
| | - Franz Ehm
- Center for Evidence-Based Healthcare (ZEGV), University Hospital Carl Gustav Carus and Carl Gustav Carus Faculty of Medicine, TU Dresden, Dresden, Germany
| | - Martin Seifert
- Center for Evidence-Based Healthcare (ZEGV), University Hospital Carl Gustav Carus and Carl Gustav Carus Faculty of Medicine, TU Dresden, Dresden, Germany
| | - Oliver Nagel
- InGef-Institute for Applied Health Research Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | | | | | - Jakob Peter Armann
- Department of Pediatrics, University Hospital Carl Gustav Carus and Carl Gustav Carus Faculty of Medicine, TU Dresden, Dresden, Germany
| | - Reinhard Berner
- Department of Pediatrics, University Hospital Carl Gustav Carus and Carl Gustav Carus Faculty of Medicine, TU Dresden, Dresden, Germany
| | | | - Dagmar Hertle
- BARMER Institut für Gesundheitssystemforschung (bifg), Berlin, Germany
| | | | - Stefan Stern
- AOK Bayern-Die Gesundheitskasse, Regensburg, Germany
| | - Pedro Ballesteros
- BARMER Institut für Gesundheitssystemforschung (bifg), Berlin, Germany
| | | | | | - Uwe Repschläger
- BARMER Institut für Gesundheitssystemforschung (bifg), Berlin, Germany
| | | | | | | | - Anja Schramm
- AOK Bayern-Die Gesundheitskasse, Regensburg, Germany
| | - Claudia Schulte
- BARMER Institut für Gesundheitssystemforschung (bifg), Berlin, Germany
| | | | - Jochen Walker
- InGef-Institute for Applied Health Research Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | | | - Jochen Schmitt
- Center for Evidence-Based Healthcare (ZEGV), University Hospital Carl Gustav Carus and Carl Gustav Carus Faculty of Medicine, TU Dresden, Dresden, Germany
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Armann JP, Kirsten C, Galow L, Kahre E, Haag L, Dalpke A, Lück C, Berner R. SARS-CoV-2 transmissions in students and teachers: seroprevalence follow-up study in a German secondary school in November and December 2020. BMJ Paediatr Open 2021; 5:e001036. [PMID: 34192197 PMCID: PMC7992381 DOI: 10.1136/bmjpo-2021-001036] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/25/2021] [Revised: 02/18/2021] [Accepted: 02/20/2021] [Indexed: 11/03/2022] Open
Abstract
OBJECTIVE To quantify the number of undetected SARS-CoV-2 infections in educational settings. DESIGN Serial SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence study before and during the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. SETTING Secondary school in Dresden, Germany. PARTICIPANTS Grade 8-12 students and their teachers were invited to participate in serial blood sampling and SARS-CoV-2 IgG antibody assessment. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE Seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in study population. RESULTS 247 students and 55 teachers participated in the initial study visit and 197 students and 40 teachers completed follow-up. Seroprevalence increased from 1.7% (0.3-3.3) to 6.8% (3.8-10.1) during the study period mirroring the increase of officially reported SARS-CoV-2 infections during this time. The ratio of undetected to detected SARS-CoV-2 infections ranged from 0.25 to 0.33. CONCLUSIONS We could not find evidence of relevant silent, asymptomatic spread of SARS-CoV-2 in schools neither in a low prevalence setting nor during the second wave of the pandemic, making it unlikely that educational settings play a crucial role in driving the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER DRKS00022455.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jakob Peter Armann
- Department of Paediatrics, University Hospital and Medical Faculty Carl Gustav, Dresden University of Technology, Dresden, Germany
| | - Carolin Kirsten
- Department of Paediatrics, University Hospital and Medical Faculty Carl Gustav, Dresden University of Technology, Dresden, Germany
| | - Lukas Galow
- Department of Paediatrics, University Hospital and Medical Faculty Carl Gustav, Dresden University of Technology, Dresden, Germany
| | - Elisabeth Kahre
- Department of Paediatrics, University Hospital and Medical Faculty Carl Gustav, Dresden University of Technology, Dresden, Germany
| | - Luise Haag
- Department of Paediatrics, University Hospital and Medical Faculty Carl Gustav, Dresden University of Technology, Dresden, Germany
| | - Alexander Dalpke
- Institute of Medical Microbiology and Hygiene, Institute of Virology, TU Dresden, Dresden, Sachsen, Germany
| | - Christian Lück
- Institute of Medical Microbiology and Hygiene, Institute of Virology, TU Dresden, Dresden, Sachsen, Germany
| | - Reinhard Berner
- Department of Paediatrics, University Hospital and Medical Faculty Carl Gustav, Dresden University of Technology, Dresden, Germany
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