| Autor: |
Ahmed A; Levine Children's Hospital, Atrium Health, Charlotte, NC, USA.; Department of Internal Medicine, Section on Infectious Diseases, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC, USA., DeWitt ME; Department of Internal Medicine, Section on Infectious Diseases, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC, USA., Dantuluri KL; Levine Children's Hospital, Atrium Health, Charlotte, NC, USA., Castri P; Department of Internal Medicine, Section on Infectious Diseases, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC, USA., Buahin A; Milken School of Public Health, George Washington University, Washington, DC, USA., LaGarde WH; Department of Pediatrics, WakeMed Health and Hospitals, Raleigh, NC, USA., Weintraub WS; MedStar Healthcare Delivery Research Network, MedStar Health Research Institute, Washington, DC, USA.; MedStar Healthcare Delivery Research Network, Georgetown University, Washington, DC, USA., Rossman W; Center for Outcomes Research and Evaluation, Atrium Health, Charlotte, NC, USA., Santos RP; University of Mississippi Medical Center, Jackson, MS, USA., Gibbs M; Department of Emergency Medicine, Atrium Health, Charlotte, NC, USA., Uschner D; Milken School of Public Health, George Washington University, Washington, DC, USA. |
| Abstrakt: |
Few prospective studies have documented the seropositivity among those children infected with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2. From 2 April 2021 to 24 June 2021, we prospectively enrolled children between the ages of 2 and 17 years at three North Carolina healthcare systems. Participants received at least four at-home serological tests detecting the presence of antibodies against, but not differentiating between, the nucleocapsid or spike antigen. A total of 1,058 participants were enrolled in the study, completing 2,709 tests between 1 May 2021 and 31 October 2021. Using multilevel regression with poststratification techniques and considering our assay sensitivity and sensitivity, we estimated that the seroprevalence of infection-induced antibodies among unvaccinated children and adolescents aged 2-17 years in North Carolina increased from 15.2% (95% credible interval, CrI 9.0-22.0) in May 2021 to 54.1% (95% CrI 46.7-61.1) by October 2021, indicating an average infection-to-reported-case ratio of 5. A rapid rise in seropositivity was most pronounced in those unvaccinated children aged 12-17 years, based on our estimates. This study underlines the utility of serial, serological testing to inform a broader understanding of the regional immune landscape and spread of infection. |
