ArticleBMJ open2013
School closures and influenza: systematic review of epidemiological studies.
Article in BMJ open, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 98 papers, 6 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
98 citing papers in PubMed, 6 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Respiratory Syncytial Virus Transmission in Closed Community Settings That Include Children: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Influenza and other respiratory viruses · 2026Pooled it
- Non-pharmaceutical interventions in containing COVID-19 pandemic after the roll-out of coronavirus vaccines: a systematic review.BMC public health · 2024Pooled it
- Impact of non-pharmaceutical interventions targeted at COVID-19 pandemic on influenza burden - a systematic review.The Journal of infection · 2021Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Disease prediction models and operational readiness.PloS one · 2014Pooled it
- The effects of school closures on influenza outbreaks and pandemics: systematic review of simulation studies.PloS one · 2014Pooled it
- The effect of smaller classes on infection-related school absence: evidence from the Project STAR randomized controlled trial.BMC public health · 2024Trial
- SARS-CoV-2 transmission among children and staff in daycare centres during a nationwide lockdown in France: a cross-sectional, multicentre, seroprevalence study.The Lancet. Child & adolescent health · 2021Trial
- Ecological reshaping of pediatric respiratory pathogen profiles after COVID-19-related non-pharmaceutical interventions were lifted: a 5-year interrupted time-series study.Frontiers in pediatrics · 2026Article
- Anti-neuraminidase and anti-HA stalk antibodies reduce the susceptibility to and infectivity of influenza A/H3N2 virus.Nature communications · 2025Article
- First- and second-order social contact network structure in southern China.Journal of the Royal Society, Interface · 2025Article
- Article
- SARS-CoV-2 Infection in School Settings, Okinawa Prefecture, Japan, 2021-2022.Emerging infectious diseases · 2024Article
- Infection Rates and Symptomatic Proportion of SARS-CoV-2 and Influenza in Pediatric Population, China, 2023.Emerging infectious diseases · 2024Article
- Forecasting of influenza activity and associated hospital admission burden and estimating the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on 2019/20 winter season in Hong Kong.PLoS computational biology · 2024Article
- Decisions and Influential Factors Regarding Class-Specific School Closures Against Seasonal Influenza Outbreak.Cureus · 2024Article
- School closures due to seasonal influenza: a prospective data collection-based study of eleven influenza seasons-United States, 2011-2022.Lancet regional health. Americas · 2024Article
- Changes in Spectrum of Respiratory Pathogen Infections and Disease Severity Among Children in Hohhot, China: Impact of COVID-19 Prevention Measures.Medical science monitor : international medical journal of experimental and clinical research · 2024Article
- Effect of planned school breaks on student absenteeism due to influenza-like illness in school aged children-Oregon School District, Wisconsin September 2014-June 2019.Influenza and other respiratory viruses · 2024Article
- Precision public health in schools enabled by wastewater surveillance: A case study of COVID-19 in an Upstate New York middle-high school campus during the 2021-2022 academic year.PLOS global public health · 2024Article
38 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
Abstract
objectiveTo review the effects of school closures on pandemic and seasonal influenza outbreaks.
designSystematic review. DATA SOURCES: MEDLINE and EMBASE, reference lists of identified articles, hand searches of key journals and additional papers from the authors' collections. STUDY SELECTION: Studies were included if they reported on a seasonal or pandemic influenza outbreak coinciding with a planned or unplanned school closure.
resultsOf 2579 papers identified through MEDLINE and EMBASE, 65 were eligible for inclusion in the review along with 14 identified from other sources. Influenza incidence frequently declined after school closure. The effect was sometimes reversed when schools reopened, supporting a causal role for school closure in reducing incidence. Any benefits associated with school closure appeared to be greatest among school-aged children. However, as schools often closed late in the outbreak or other interventions were used concurrently, it was sometimes unclear how much school closure contributed to the reductions in incidence.
conclusionsSchool closures appear to have the potential to reduce influenza transmission, but the heterogeneity in the data available means that the optimum strategy (eg, the ideal length and timing of closure) remains unclear.
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.