ArticleBMC infectious diseases2018
Characteristics of human encounters and social mixing patterns relevant to infectious diseases spread by close contact: a survey in Southwest Uganda.
Article in BMC infectious diseases, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 53 papers, 3 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
53 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Meningococcal carriage by age in the African meningitis belt: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Epidemiology and infection · 2019Pooled it
- Trial
- Trial
- Relationship between household attributes and contact patterns in urban and rural South Africa.PloS one · 2026Article
- Identification of age-group reservoirs for persistent vaccine-type pneumococcal carriage in rural Gambia.Pneumonia (Nathan Qld.) · 2025Article
- Social contact patterns and their impact on the transmission of respiratory pathogens in rural China.Infectious Disease Modelling · 2025Article
- Social contacts and mixing patterns in rural Gambia.BMC infectious diseases · 2025Article
- Article
- Social Contact Patterns in Rural and Urban Settings, Mozambique, 2021-2022.Emerging infectious diseases · 2025Article
- Article
- Article
- Seasonal variations in social contact patterns in a rural population in north India: Implications for pandemic control.PloS one · 2024Article
- Article
- Heterogeneity in network structure switches the dominant transmission mode of infectious diseases.PNAS nexus · 2023Article
- The impact of introduction of the 10-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine on pneumococcal carriage in Nigeria.Nature communications · 2023Article
- Social contact patterns relevant for infectious disease transmission in Cambodia.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- Age-Stratified Model to Assess Health Outcomes of COVID-19 Vaccination Strategies, Ghana.Emerging infectious diseases · 2023Article
- Characterising social contacts under COVID-19 control measures in Africa.BMC medicine · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
14 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundQuantification of human interactions relevant to infectious disease transmission through social contact is central to predict disease dynamics, yet data from low-resource settings remain scarce.
methodsWe undertook a social contact survey in rural Uganda, whereby participants were asked to recall details about the frequency, type, and socio-demographic characteristics of any conversational encounter that lasted for ≥5 min (henceforth defined as 'contacts') during the previous day. An estimate of the number of 'casual contacts' (i.e. < 5 min) was also obtained.
resultsIn total, 566 individuals were included in the study. On average participants reported having routine contact with 7.2 individuals (range 1-25). Children aged 5-14 years had the highest frequency of contacts and the elderly (≥65 years) the fewest (P < 0.001). A strong age-assortative pattern was seen, particularly outside the household and increasingly so for contacts occurring further away from home. Adults aged 25-64 years tended to travel more often and further than others, and males travelled more frequently than females.
conclusionOur study provides detailed information on contact patterns and their spatial characteristics in an African setting. It therefore fills an important knowledge gap that will help more accurately predict transmission dynamics and the impact of control strategies in such areas.
Indexed as
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.