SynthesisBMC pediatrics2022
Child transmission of SARS-CoV-2: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
Synthesis in BMC pediatrics, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 38 papers, 2 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
38 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Evidence linking COVID-19 and the health/well-being of children and adolescents: an umbrella review.BMC medicine · 2024Pooled it
- 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
- Effectiveness of NVX-CoV2373 and BNT162b2 COVID-19 Vaccination in South Korean Adolescents.The Pediatric infectious disease journal · 2025Article
- Early Warning Approach to Identify Positive Cases of SARS-CoV-2 in School Settings in Italy.Microorganisms · 2025Article
- Living With School-Aged Children and the Risk of Absenteeism Among Healthcare Workers During the Twindemic of COVID-19 and Influenza.Influenza and other respiratory viruses · 2025Article
- Household transmission of Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 under conditions of hybrid immunity-a prospective study in Germany.Infection · 2025Article
- Factors Associated With Transmission Across Three Waves of SARS-CoV-2 in a Prospective Community-Based Study of Households With School-Aged Children-Dane County, Wisconsin, 2020-2022.Influenza and other respiratory viruses · 2024Article
- Contact Tracing Different Age Groups During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Retrospective Study From South-West Germany.Online journal of public health informatics · 2024Article
- Infection Rates and Symptomatic Proportion of SARS-CoV-2 and Influenza in Pediatric Population, China, 2023.Emerging infectious diseases · 2024Article
- Three years of COVID-19-related school restrictions and mental health of children and adolescents in Japan.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Differences in SARS-COV-2 seroprevalence in the population of Cusco, Peru.Global epidemiology · 2024Article
- Characterising COVID-19 school and childcare outbreaks in Canada in 2021: a surveillance study.BMJ public health · 2024Article
- A seroprevalence study of SARS-CoV-2 and seasonal coronaviruses after the first SARS-CoV-2 circulation in New Caledonia, Pacific region.IJID regions · 2024Article
- SARS-CoV-2 Disease Severity and Cycle Threshold Values in Children Infected during Pre-Delta, Delta, and Omicron Periods, Colorado, USA, 2021-2022.Emerging infectious diseases · 2024Article
- Transmission risks of Omicron BA.5 following inactivated COVID-19 vaccines among children and adolescents in China.Communications medicine · 2024Article
- Article
- The ethicality of the COVID-19 response in children and adolescents.Irish journal of medical science · 2024Article
- Kids gone wild - Alcohol use and patient characteristics in pediatric trauma during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic.Pediatric investigation · 2023Article
- Humoral immune response to SARS-CoV-2 and endemic coronaviruses in urban and indigenous children in Colombia.Communications medicine · 2023Article
- Antibody response to SARS-CoV-2 vaccination or infection in a prospective cohort of children with neuroinflammatory diseases.European journal of paediatric neurology : EJPN : official journal of the European Paediatric Neurology Society · 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
8 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundUnderstanding of the role of children in COVID-19 transmission has significant implications for school and childcare policies, as well as appropriate targeting of vaccine campaigns. The objective of this systematic review was to identify the role of children in SARS-CoV-2 transmission to other children and adults.
methodsMEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, and Web of Science were electronically searched for articles published before March 31, 2021. Studies of child-to-child and child-to-adult transmission and quantified the incidence of index and resulting secondary attack rates of children and adults in schools, households, and other congregate pediatric settings were identified. All articles describing confirmed transmission of SARS-CoV-2 from a child were included. PRISMA guidelines for data abstraction were followed, with each step conducted by two reviewers.
results40 of 6110 articles identified met inclusion criteria. Overall, there were 0.8 secondary cases per primary index case, with a secondary attack rate of 8.4% among known contacts. The secondary attack rate was 26.4% among adult contacts versus 5.7% amongst child contacts. The pooled estimate of a contact of a pediatric index case being infected as secondary case was 0.10 (95% CI 0.03-0.25).
conclusionsChildren transmit COVID-19 at a lower rate to children than to adults. Household adults are at highest risk of transmission from an infected child, more so than adults or children in other settings.
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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.