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Systematic analysis of infectious disease outcomes by age shows lowest severity in school-age children

Judith R Glynn1, Paul A H Moss2

  • 1Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, London, UK. Judith.glynn@lshtm.ac.uk.

Scientific Data
|October 15, 2020
PubMed

Insights

Children experience the mildest infectious diseases, with severity increasing significantly in young adults and before old age. This suggests immune function peaks early, with senescence beginning sooner than previously thought.

Area of Science:

  • Immunology
  • Epidemiology
  • Infectious Diseases

Background:

  • The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the need to understand age-specific disease severity.
  • Knowledge gaps exist regarding infectious disease severity across the full age spectrum, from children to the elderly.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To systematically analyze age-specific severity of various infectious diseases.
  • To investigate patterns of disease severity across different age groups, from childhood to old age.

Main Methods:

  • Conducted a systematic analysis of 142 datasets.
  • Included data on disease severity by age for 32 infectious diseases (19 viral, 13 bacterial).

Main Results:

  • School-aged children generally exhibit the least severe disease across most infections.
  • Disease severity increases notably in young adults, often exceeding that in children.
  • Dengue was the sole exception, being most severe in school-aged children.

Conclusions:

  • Findings suggest peak immune function occurs around ages 5-14.
  • Immune senescence may commence earlier than traditionally assumed, preceding accelerated decline in older age.
  • Results have implications for infection resilience, vaccine scheduling, and life-course health policies.

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