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Association of contact to small children with a mild course of COVID-19
Martin Dugas1, Inga-Marie Schrempf2, Kevin Ochs2
1Institute of Medical Informatics, University of Münster, Germany.
Insights
Adults with frequent contact with young children may experience milder COVID-19. In a German survey, intensive care patients were less likely to have contact with children, suggesting a protective effect. Further validation is needed.
Area of Science:
- Epidemiology
- Infectious Diseases
- Public Health
Background:
- Severe COVID-19 is rare in young children.
- The hypothesis posits that frequent contact with children may confer protection against severe COVID-19 in adults.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate if adults with regular contact with young children experience milder COVID-19 outcomes.
- To test the hypothesis that childhood exposure might be protective against severe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).
Main Methods:
- A survey was conducted among 4010 recovered COVID-19 patients in Germany.
- 1186 complete responses were analyzed, assessing contact with children under ten and personal child-rearing status.
Main Results:
- 6.9% reported frequent job-related contact with children under ten; 23.2% had their own young children.
- In a small subgroup (n=19) requiring intensive care, patients without contact with young children were overrepresented.
Conclusions:
- Findings suggest a potential protective association between contact with young children and COVID-19 severity.
- The observed overrepresentation of patients without child contact in intensive care warrants further investigation and validation in diverse populations.
Abstract:
It is known that severe COVID-19 cases in small children are rare. If a childhood-related infection were protective against a severe course of COVID-19, it would be expected that adults with intensive and regular contact with small children also may have a mild course of COVID-19 more frequently. To test this hypothesis, a survey among 4010 recovered COVID-19 patients was conducted in Germany. 1186 complete answers were collected. 6.9% of these patients reported frequent and regular job-related contact with children below ten years of age, and 23.2% had their own small children, which was higher than expected. In the relatively small subgroup with intensive care treatment (n = 19), patients without contact with small children were overrepresented. These findings are not well explained by age, gender, or BMI distribution of those patients and should be validated in other settings.
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