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Author Spotlight: Advancements in Multiplex Detection of Respiratory Viruses
Published on: November 10, 2023
Risk factors of infection among close contacts of COVID-19: A systematic review and meta-analysis
Chun Gao1,2, Jing-Jing Jiang1,2, Jun-Feng Mao3
1Department of Gastroenterology, The 940 Hospital of Joint Logisitic Support Forces of PLA, Lanzhou, China.
Insights
Family members and gender significantly increase the risk of COVID-19 infection for close contacts. Other factors like age and cohabitation showed no significant impact on transmission risk.
Area of Science:
- Epidemiology
- Infectious Disease Transmission
- Public Health
Background:
- Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) emerged in December 2019, leading to a global pandemic declared by the WHO in March 2020.
- Current COVID-19 management primarily focuses on supportive care and preventing respiratory failure.
Approach:
- A comprehensive literature search was conducted across PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, and CNKI databases.
- Relevant studies published between December 2019 and November 2022 on infection risk factors in COVID-19 close contacts were selected.
- Meta-analysis was performed after rigorous literature screening, quality assessment, and data extraction.
Key Points:
- Meta-analysis of 11 studies involving 425 articles identified key risk factors for COVID-19 infection.
- Family members (OR=5.23) and women (OR=1.97) showed significantly higher infection risks.
- Factors such as regular contact, advanced age, and cohabitation did not demonstrate statistically significant associations with infection risk in this analysis.
Conclusions:
- Family proximity and gender are identified as significant risk factors for COVID-19 transmission among close contacts.
- The study could not establish a definitive link between frequent contact, advanced age, or cohabitation and increased infection risk.
Background:
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) was first detected in December 2019, and declared as a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO) on March 11, 2020. The current management of COVID-19 is based generally on supportive therapy and treatment to prevent respiratory failure.
Methods:
PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, CNKI, and other databases were searched by computer, and relevant literature published from December 2019 to November 2022 on the influencing factors of infection in close contacts with novel coronavirus pneumonia was collected. Meta-analysis was carried out after literature screening, quality assessment, and data extraction.
Results:
A total of 425 articles were retrieved and 11 were included. Meta-analysis showed that there were 6 risk factors, and the combined OR value and 95% CI of each influencing factor were 5.23 (3.20, 8.57) for family members, 1.63 (0.56, 4.77) for regular contact, 2.14 (0.62, 7.32) for the elderly, 0.58 (0.001569.89) for cohabitation, 1.97 (1.02, 3.82) for women and 0.75 (0.01, 54.07) for others. The Deeks' funnel diagram indicates that there is no potential publication bias among the included studies.
Conclusion:
Family members and gender differences are the risk factors of infection among close contacts, and it cannot be proved that there are differences in infection among frequent contact, advanced age, and living together.
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