SynthesisThe Journal of infection2022
Transmission of SARS-CoV-2 by children and young people in households and schools: A meta-analysis of population-based and contact-tracing studies.
Synthesis in The Journal of infection, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 42 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
42 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 56 citations in OpenAlex.
- Evidence linking COVID-19 and the health/well-being of children and adolescents: an umbrella review.BMC medicine · 2024Pooled it
- Child mask mandates for COVID-19: a systematic review.Archives of disease in childhood · 2024Pooled it
- The role of children in household transmission of COVID-19: a systematic review and meta-analysis.International journal of infectious diseases : IJID : official publication of the International Society for Infectious Diseases · 2022Pooled it
- Variant-Specific Kinetics of SARS-CoV-2 Anti-Nucleocapsid Antibodies and Household Transmission in Families During Anchestral, Alpha, Delta and Omicron Periods.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Longitudinal SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence among learners, parents, and teachers in a South African school community.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- Informed decisions about public health and social measures.Health research policy and systems · 2025Review
- COVID-19 RT-qPCR-based screening in Austrian schools and incidences in the general population: a Bayesian spatiotemporal analysis.Archives of public health = Archives belges de sante publique · 2025Article
- School opening associated with lower test-adjusted COVID-19 case rates in children.International journal of epidemiology · 2025Observational
- Comparative evaluation of in-house ELISA and two commercial serological assays for the detection of antibodies against SARS-CoV-2.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence among learners in grades 1-7, their parents and teachers in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa: a cross-sectional study.Frontiers in public health · 2025Article
- Infection Rates and Symptomatic Proportion of SARS-CoV-2 and Influenza in Pediatric Population, China, 2023.Emerging infectious diseases · 2024Article
- Article
- Article
- Article
- Twice weekly polymerase chain reaction (PCR) surveillance swabs are not as effective as daily antigen testing for containment of severe acute respiratory coronavirus virus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) outbreaks: A modeling study based on real world data from a child and adolescent psychiatry clinic.Infection control and hospital epidemiology · 2023Article
- Prevalence and Risk Factors for School-Associated Transmission of SARS-CoV-2.JAMA health forum · 2023Article
- The Role of Children in Household Transmission of SARS-CoV-2 Across Four Waves of the Pandemic.Journal of the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society · 2023Article
- Understanding SARS-CoV-2 Delta and Omicron variant transmission and vaccine impact in schools and child-care settings in Australia: a population-based study.The Lancet regional health. Western Pacific · 2023Article
- Saliva and wastewater surveillance for SARS-CoV-2 during school reopening amid COVID-19 pandemic in Thailand.Public health in practice (Oxford, England) · 2023Article
- Rejoinder 1: Advocating for children in the presence of imperfect evidence: A reply to Black et al.Journal of the Canadian Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry = Journal de l'Academie canadienne de psychiatrie de l'enfant et de l'adolescent · 2023Article
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 7 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundThe role of children and young people (CYP) in transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in household and educational settings remains unclear. We undertook a systematic review and meta-analysis of contact-tracing and population-based studies at low risk of bias.
methodsWe searched 4 electronic databases on 28 July 2021 for contact-tracing studies and population-based studies informative about transmission of SARS-CoV-2 from 0 to 19 year olds in household or educational settings. We excluded studies at high risk of bias, including from under-ascertainment of asymptomatic infections. We undertook multilevel random effects meta-analyses of secondary attack rates (SAR: contact-tracing studies) and school infection prevalence, and used meta-regression to examine the impact of community SARS-CoV-2 incidence on school infection prevalence.
findings4529 abstracts were reviewed, resulting in 37 included studies (16 contact-tracing; 19 population studies; 2 mixed studies). The pooled relative transmissibility of CYP compared with adults was 0.92 (0.68, 1.26) in adjusted household studies. The pooled SAR from CYP was lower (p = 0.002) in school studies 0.7% (0.2, 2.7) than household studies (7.6% (3.6, 15.9) . There was no difference in SAR from CYP to child or adult contacts. School population studies showed some evidence of clustering in classes within schools. School infection prevalence was associated with contemporary community 14-day incidence (OR 1.003 (1.001, 1.004), p<0.001).
interpretationWe found no difference in transmission of SARS-CoV-2 from CYP compared with adults within household settings. SAR were markedly lower in school compared with household settings, suggesting that household transmission is more important than school transmission in this pandemic. School infection prevalence was associated with community infection incidence, supporting hypotheses that school infections broadly reflect community infections. These findings are important for guiding policy decisions on shielding, vaccination school and operations during the pandemic.
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.