Contact With Young Children Increases the Risk of Respiratory Infection in Older Adults in Europe-the RESCEU Study
RESCEU Investigators
(2022) The Journal of infectious diseases, volume 226, issue Supplement_1, pp. S79 - S86
(Article)
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Knowledge about how older adults get a respiratory infection is crucial for planning preventive strategies. We aimed to determine how contact with young children living outside of the household affects the risk of acute respiratory tract infections (ARTI) in community-dwelling older adults. METHODS: This study is part of the
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European RESCEU older adult study. Weekly surveillance was performed to detect ARTI throughout 2 winter seasons (2017-2018, 2018-2019). Child exposure, defined as having regular contact with children under 5 living outside of the subject's household, was assessed at baseline. The average attributable fraction was calculated to determine the fraction of ARTI explained by exposure to these children. RESULTS: We prospectively established that 597/1006 (59%) participants experienced at least 1 ARTI. Child exposure increased the risk of all-cause ARTI (adjusted odds ratio [aOR], 1.58; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.21 -2.08; P = .001). This risk was highest in those with the most frequent contact (aOR, 1.80; 95% CI, 1.23-2.63; P = .003). The average attributable fraction of child exposure explaining ARTI was 10% (95% CI, 5%-15%). CONCLUSIONS: One of 10 ARTI in community-dwelling older adults is attributable to exposure to preschool children living outside of the household. CLINICAL TRIALS REGISTRATION: NCT03621930.
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Keywords: Aged, Child, Preschool, Europe/epidemiology, Humans, Infant, Odds Ratio, Respiratory Tract Infections/drug therapy, child exposure, community, elderly, respiratory infection, Journal Article, Clinical Trial, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
ISSN: 0022-1899
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Note: Funding Information: We gratefully acknowledge the support of volunteers who participated in this study and all the general practitioners for their cooperation in the recruitment of participants from their offices. We thank the staff who was responsible for local patient recruitment and follow-up in Antwerp (Tita De Winter, Caroline Verschueren, Tine Maes, Ingrid Develter, Lizzy Winnepenninckx, and Lisbeth Minnen), Oxford (Behnaz Ravanfar, Heather Rutter, Julie Allen, Karen Madronal, Irene Noel, Bernadette Mundy, Belinda I'Anson, Samantha Squires, and Pippa Whitbread with the support with of the NIHR Clinical Research Network: Thames Valley and South Midlands research nurse team), and Utrecht (Brigitte Buiteman, Loes Nibbelke, Lieke Kam, Marin Bont, and Victor Kroon). We thank the staff of the Laboratory of Medical Microbiology of the University of Antwerp (Stalin Solomon Raj) and Oxford (Elisabeth Clutterbuck, Joseph McGinley, and Gu-Lung Lin) for sample processing and storage; epidemiologists Katrien Oude Rengerink and Marie Billard for their contributions in the statistical analysis; Cepheid for unconditionally providing us with the point-of-care test used in this study; Myra Widjojoatmodjo (Janssen, Leiden) for her contribution to overall setup of the project at the project initiation; Linong Zhang and Charlotte Vernhes (Sanofi Pasteur R&D, Cambridge, MA) for their leadership on the RESCEU WP5 SP activities; and Hélène Bisceglia, Sandrine Montano, and Thibault Perret (Sanofi Pasteur R&D, Marcy l'Etoile, France) for the hands-on work in the laboratories. Publisher Copyright: © The Author(s) 2021. Published by Oxford University Press for the Infectious Diseases Society of America.
(Peer reviewed)
