SynthesisJournal of global health2020
What is the evidence for transmission of COVID-19 by children in schools? A living systematic review.
Synthesis in Journal of global health, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 37 papers, 6 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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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
37 citing papers in PubMed, 6 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 81 citations in OpenAlex.
- Systematic review of outbreaks of COVID-19 within households in the European region when the child is the index case.BMJ paediatrics open · 2023Pooled it
- SARS-CoV-2 Circulation in the School Setting: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Pooled it
- Transmission of SARS-CoV-2 by children and young people in households and schools: A meta-analysis of population-based and contact-tracing studies.The Journal of infection · 2022Pooled it
- Risk of infection and transmission of SARS-CoV-2 among children and adolescents in households, communities and educational settings: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Journal of global health · 2021Pooled it
- SARS-CoV-2 transmission in schools: An updated living systematic review (version 2; November 2020).Journal of global health · 2021Pooled it
- What is the evidence for transmission of COVID-19 by children in schools? A living systematic review.Journal of global health · 2020Pooled it
- Evolving infectious disease dynamics shape school-based intervention effectiveness.Nature communications · 2025Article
- A modeling study on SARS-CoV-2 transmissions in primary and middle schools in Illinois.BMC public health · 2024Article
- Comparison of RT-PCR cycle threshold values between individual and pooled SARS-CoV-2 infected nasopharyngeal swab specimens.Narra J · 2024Article
- Variant-specific antibody profiling for tracking SARS-CoV-2 variant infections in children and adolescents.Frontiers in immunology · 2024Article
- COVID-19-related adolescent mortality and morbidity in nineteen European countries.European journal of pediatrics · 2023Article
- Prediction of compliance with preventive measures among teachers in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.Technological forecasting and social change · 2023Article
- Epidemiology of COVID-19 among Children and Adolescents in Sudan 2020-2021.Epidemiologia (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- Thematic analysis of national online narratives on regular asymptomatic testing for Covid-19 in schools in England.BMC public health · 2023Article
- Monitoring of COVID-19 in wastewater across the Eastern Upper Peninsula of Michigan.Environmental advances · 2023Article
- Community-based COVID-19 outbreak of the B.1.1.7 (Alpha) variant of concern in Newfoundland, February to March 2021.Canada communicable disease report = Releve des maladies transmissibles au Canada · 2023Article
- SARS-CoV-2 Transmission in Belgian French-Speaking Primary Schools: An Epidemiological Pilot Study.Viruses · 2022Article
- Epidemiology of SARS-CoV-2 infection among staff and students in a cohort of English primary and secondary schools during 2020-2021.The Lancet regional health. Europe · 2022Article
- Respiratory virus circulation in children after relaxation of COVID-19 restrictions in fall 2021-A nationwide register study in Finland.Journal of medical virology · 2022Article
- Back to school or … back to lockdown? The effects of opening schools on the diffusion of COVID-19 in Italian regions.Socio-economic planning sciences · 2022Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
10 authors at 5 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundIt is of paramount importance to understand the transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in schools, which could support the decision-making about educational facilities closure or re-opening with effective prevention and control measures in place.
methodsWe conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to investigate the extent of SARS-CoV-2 transmission in schools. We performed risk of bias evaluation of all included studies using the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale (NOS).
results2178 articles were retrieved and 11 studies were included. Five cohort studies reported a combined 22 student and 21 staff index cases that exposed 3345 contacts with 18 transmissions (overall infection attack rate (IAR): 0.08%, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.00%-0.86%). IARs for students and school staff were 0.15% (95% CI = 0.00%-0.93%) and 0.70% (95% CI = 0.00%-3.56%) respectively. Six cross-sectional studies reported 639 SARS-CoV-2 positive cases in 6682 study participants tested [overall SARS-CoV-2 positivity rate: 8.00% (95% CI = 2.17%-16.95%). SARS-CoV-2 positivity rate was estimated to be 8.74% (95% CI = 2.34%-18.53%) among students, compared to 13.68% (95% CI = 1.68%-33.89%) among school staff. Gender differences were not found for secondary infection (OR = 1.44, 95% CI = 0.50-4.14,
conclusionsThere is limited high-quality evidence available to quantify the extent of SARS-CoV-2 transmission in schools or to compare it to community transmission. Emerging evidence suggests lower IAR and SARS-CoV-2 positivity rate in students compared to school staff. Future prospective and adequately controlled cohort studies are necessary to confirm this finding.
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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.