SynthesisInternational journal of infectious diseases : IJID : official publication of the International Society for Infectious Diseases2022
The role of children in household transmission of COVID-19: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
Synthesis in International journal of infectious diseases : IJID : official publication of the International Society for Infectious Diseases, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 51 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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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
51 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 80 citations in OpenAlex.
- New variants of COVID-19 (XBB.1.5 and XBB.1.16, the "Arcturus"): A review of highly questioned concerns, a brief comparison between different peaks in the COVID-19 pandemic, with a focused systematic review on expert recommendations for prevention, vaccination, and treatment measures in the general population and at-risk groups.Immunity, inflammation and disease · 2024Pooled it
- The role of children in transmission of SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern within households: an updated systematic review and meta-analysis, as at 30 June 2022.Euro surveillance : bulletin Europeen sur les maladies transmissibles = European communicable disease bulletin · 2023Pooled 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
- Pooled it
- Retrospective analysis of age-specific non-pharmaceutical interventions on wild-type SARS-CoV-2 in Canada.BMC public health · 2026Article
- Roles of children, isolation measures and socioeconomic status in SARS-CoV-2 household transmission: a retrospective cohort study in a southern US city.BMJ public health · 2026Article
- Changing socioeconomic inequalities in the incidence and case fatality rates of COVID-19 in Germany, March 2020 through May 2022: an ecological study.BMC public health · 2025Article
- Back to school: The effect of school visits during COVID-19 on COVID-19 outcomes.Journal of health economics · 2025Article
- A community-based cross-sectional survey of young children with SARS-CoV-2 infection during the Omicron wave in Beijing, China.BMJ open · 2025Article
- COVID-19 Seroprevalence in Romania: Insights from a Nationwide Antibody Study.Epidemiologia (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Factors Associated With the Transmission of the Delta Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 Variant in Households: The Israeli COVID-19 Family Study (ICoFS).The Journal of infectious diseases · 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
- Age-dependent ACE2/TMPRSS2 expression and SARS-CoV-2 household transmission in Gran Canaria.PloS one · 2025Observational
- Association between age of paediatric index cases and household SARS-CoV-2 transmission.Epidemiology and infection · 2024Article
- 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
- Household Transmission and Clinical Features of Respiratory Tract Infections That Were SARS-CoV-2 Positive and Negative.The Journal of infectious diseases · 2024Article
- COVID-19 pandemic in Taiz Governorate, Yemen, between 2020 and 2023.BMC infectious diseases · 2024Article
- Transmission risks of Omicron BA.5 following inactivated COVID-19 vaccines among children and adolescents in China.Communications medicine · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectivesTo explore household transmissibility of SARS-CoV-2 in children in new-variants dominating periods.
methodsThrough retrieval in PubMed and Embase, studies were included in two parts: meta-analysis of the household secondary attack rate (SAR) and case analysis of household pediatric infections.
resultsA total of 95 articles were included: 48 for meta-analysis and 47 for case analysis. Pediatric COVID-19 only comprised a minority of the household transmission. The total pooled household SAR of child index cases and contacts were 0.20 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.15-0.26) and 0.24 (95% CI: 0.18-0.30). Lower household transmissibility was reported in both child index cases and contacts than in adults (relative risk [RR] = 0.64, 95% CI: 0.50-0.81; RR = 0.74, 95% CI: 0.64-0.85). Younger children were as susceptible as the older children (RR = 0.89, 95% CI: 0.72-1.10). Through subgroup analyses of different variants and periods, increased household SAR was observed in children (Wild: 0.20; Alpha: 0.42; Delta: 0.35; Omicron: 0.56), and no significant difference was found in household SAR between children and adults when new variants dominated.
conclusionAlthough children were found not to be dominant in the household transmission, their transmissibility of SARS-CoV-2 appeared to be on the rise as new variants emerged.
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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.