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SARS-CoV-2 Seroprevalence in Preschool and School-Age Children—Population Screening Findings From January 2020 to
Raffael Ott1, Peter Achenbach, Dominik A Ewald
1Institute of Diabetes Research, Helmholtz Munich, German Research Center for Environmental Health, Munich; Forschergruppe Diabetes e.V. at Helmholtz Munich; Technical University Munich, School of Medicine, Forschergruppe Diabetes at Klinikum Rechts der Isar, Munich, Germany; Practice for Pediatric Medicine, Regensburg Department of Pediatrics, University Hospital and Faculty of Medicine, Technical University of Dresden; Center for Regenerative Therapies Dresden, Faculty of Medicine, Technical University of Dresden; Practice for Pediatric Medicine, Zirndorf; Auf der Bult Pediatric Hospital, Hanover.
Background:
The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic is ongoing in Germany. Children and adolescents are increasingly being infected, and many cases presumably remain undetected and unreported. Sero-epidemiological studies can help estimate the true number of infections.
Methods:
From January 2020 to June 2022, 59 786 persons aged 1-17 years were tested for SARS-CoV-2 antibodies as part of a screening program for presymptomatic type 1 diabetes in the German federal state of Bavaria (the Fr1da study).
Results:
In June 2022, the seroprevalence in the overall population was 73.5%. The seroprevalence was significantly higher in school-age children (from 5 to 10 years of age) than in preschool children (ages 1-4): 84.4% vs. 66.6%, p <0.001. In contrast, in November 2021, before the appearance of the omicron variant, the overall seroprevalence was 14.7% (16.2% of school-age children, 13.0% of preschool children, p = 0.06). In the overall collective, seroprevalence increased fivefold from the fall of 2021 to June 2022 (by a factor of 5.2 in school-age children and 5.1 in preschool children). Similar seroprevalences, with smaller case numbers, were observed in June 2022 in the corresponding Fr1da studies in Saxony and Northern Germany: 87.8% and 76.7%, respectively.
Conclusion:
Monthly case counts reveal a substantial rise in SARS-CoV-2-infections among children and adolescents from late 2021 to mid-2022. The high percentage of preschool and school-age children who have been infected with SARS-CoV-2, in a population that has low vaccination coverage, should be taken into account in the development of health policies.
