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BackgroundChildren are relatively protected from novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19). The reasons for this protection are not well understood but differences in the immune response to Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) have been implicated. If such differences are due to differential exposure to non-SARS-CoV-2 infectious agents, adults who are close contacts of children may partly share in this protection. Such a protective effect would have important implications for the lives of children, not least in terms of schooling.MethodsUsing a Scotland-wide record-linkage based occupational cohort comprising healthcare workers and members of their households, we examined whether sharing a household with young children (aged 0 to 11) attenuated the risk of hospitalisation with COVID-19, and/or testing positive for COVID-19 infection of any severity (any case of Covid-19). All healthcare workers directly employed by the National health Service (NHS) in Scotland, or contracted to provide general practice services, were included. Outcome and covariate data were obtained via linkage to Scotland-wide microbiology, drug prescribing, hospitalisation and death data.Results241,266 adults did not share a household with young children; 41,198, 23,783 and 3,850 shared a household with 1, 2 and 3 or more young children respectively. The risk of hospitalisation with COVID-19 was lower in those with one child and lower still in those with two or more children, adjusting for age the hazard ratio (HR) was 0.83 per child (95% CI 0.70-0.99). On additionally adjusting for sex, socioeconomic deprivation, occupation, professional role, staff/non-staff status, the number of adults and adolescents in each household, and comorbidity, the HR was 0.89 per child (95% CI 0.74-1.06). An association of the same magnitude, but more precisely estimated, was obtained for any case of COVID-19 (fully adjusted model, HR per child 0.89; 95% CI 0.84-0.95).ConclusionIncreased household exposure to young children was associated with an attenuated risk of testing positive for SARS-CoV-2 and appeared to also be associated with an attenuated risk of COVID-19 disease severe enough to require hospitalisation. |
