ArticleFrontiers in immunology2026
From cells to antibodies: age-specific immune shifts in children during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Article in Frontiers in immunology, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
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
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
1 author.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Background: The COVID-19 pandemic and associated containment measures could have influenced children's immune system development through reduced microbial exposure and lifestyle changes. Hematological parameters and immunoglobulin E (IgE) are key indicators for immune status, but large-scale, age-stratified studies are lacking. Methods: Children under 18 years were enrolled during the first two weeks of December each year from 2017 to 2024 at Tianjin Children's hospital. Data from 2019 and 2022 were excluded to minimize COVID-19 pandemic effects. Cases with missing age/sex or IgE values outside the linear range were removed. Complete blood count (CBC) data were obtained from emergency department patients (n=126, 617), and IgE levels from inpatient admissions patients (n=6, 055). General linear models (GLM) adjusted for sex and age were used to compare pre-pandemic (2017 and 2018) and post-pandemic groups (2023 and 2024). Effect sizes (η²) were calculated. Age-stratified analyses were performed in five subgroups: ≤1 year, 2-3 years, 4-6 years, 7-12 years, and 13-18 years. Baseline characteristics were compared between cohorts using chi-square test for sex and Mann-Whitney U test for age. Results: Baseline comparison showed no significant sex difference between the CBC and IgE cohorts (χ² = 3.111, Conclusions: The COVID-19 pandemic was associated with modest increases in basophils and IgE in children, with distinct age-dependent patterns: basophils peaked in preschool children (4-6 years), while IgE increased only in adolescents (7-18 years). These findings support the hygiene hypothesis and suggest the age stratified pattern of Th2-skewed immune shifts across childhood. However, all effect sizes were small, indicating that routine CBC and IgE are not sensitive markers for individual monitoring.
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.