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Abstract

Background

Infections with seasonally spreading coronaviruses are common among young children during winter months in the northern hemisphere; the immunological response lasts around a year. However, it is not clear if living with young children changes the risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection among adults.

Aim

Our aim was to investigate the association between living in a household with younger children and the risk of SARS-CoV-2 infections and hospitalisation.

Methods

In a nationwide cohort study, we followed all adults in Denmark aged 18 to 60 years from 27 February 2020 to 26 February 2021. Hazard ratios of SARS-CoV-2 infection by number of 10 months to 5 year-old children in the household were estimated using Cox regression adjusted for adult age, sex and other potential confounders. In a sensitivity analysis, we investigated the effect of the children's age.

Results

Among 450,007 adults living in households with young children, 19,555 were tested positive for SARS-CoV-2, while among 2,628,500 adults without young children in their household, 110,069 were tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 (adjusted hazard ratio (aHR) = 1.10; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.08–1.12). Among adults with young children, 620 were hospitalised with SARS-CoV-2, while 4,002 adults without children were hospitalised with SARS-CoV-2 (aHR = 0.97; 95% CI: 0.88–1.08). Sensitivity analyses found that an increasing number of younger children substantially increased the risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection but not hospitalisation.

Conclusion

Living in a household with young children was associated with a small increased risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection.

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
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2022-08-11
2024-04-25
http://instance.metastore.ingenta.com/content/10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2022.27.32.2101096
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SARS-CoV-2 infection in households with and without young children: Nationwide cohort study, Denmark, 27 February 2020 to 26 February 2021
<p class="citation"> <span>Citation style for this article:</span> <span class="meta-value authors"> <a href="/search?value1=Anders+Husby&option1=author&noRedirect=true" class="nonDisambigAuthorLink">Husby Anders</a>, <a href="/search?value1=Giulia+Corn&option1=author&noRedirect=true" class="nonDisambigAuthorLink">Corn Giulia</a>, <a href="/search?value1=Tyra+Grove+Krause&option1=author&noRedirect=true" class="nonDisambigAuthorLink">Grove Krause Tyra</a></span>. SARS-CoV-2 infection in households with and without young children: Nationwide cohort study, Denmark, 27 February 2020 to 26 February 2021. <a href="/content/ecdc">Euro Surveill.</a> 2022;27(32):pii=2101096. <a href="https://doi.org/10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2022.27.32.2101096" title="doi link" target="_blank">https://doi.org/10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2022.27.32.2101096</a> <span class="ES_Article_citation"> <span class="generated">Received</span>: 22 Nov 2021;&nbsp;&nbsp; <span class="generated">Accepted</span>: 21 Apr 2022 </span> </p>
/content/10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2022.27.32.2101096
/content/10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2022.27.32.2101096
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