Seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 Antibodies among Children in Children’s Clinical University Hospital, Riga, Latvia

Activity: Talk or presentation types › Oral presentation

Description

Over the past two years Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has become one of the key global health concerns affecting numerous countries including Latvia. The aim of this study was to detect seroprevalence of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) antibodies in children and adolescents to ascertain the overall morbidity in Latvia and compare these findings with similar data collected globally. . A cross - sectional seroprevalence study was conducted from March to July 2022 enrolling 200 participants aged 0 to 18 years. Participants were selected randomly from patients hospitalised at Children's Clinical University Hospital of Riga, Latvia for reasons other than COVID-19. Spike protein and nucleocapsid antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 were detected in blood samples. The presence of SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid antibodies was set as a main criterion for seropositivity. Study sample was divided into three age groups and further analysed. . 173 out of total 200 study participants turned out to be seropositive, leading to overall seroprevalence of 86,5%. The highest seroprevalence was observed among children and adolescents aged 12 to 18 years (94,3%) whereas the lowest- in children under 5 years of age (77,8%). 123 (61,5%) participants mentioned having had confirmed COVID-19 at least once in the period of previous two years. The seroprevalence data collected shows that 50 of the 173 (28,9%) seropositive children were not aware of being infected with SARS-CoV-2 due to asymptomatic or mild course of the disease. . Prior to this study there was no data available in Latvia on seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 among children. The study showed high seropositivity in this population group. Studies collected globally revealed similar findings with significant increase of seroprevalence among children since the beginning of the pandemic. Increasing morbidity most likely indicate that COVID-19 might become a seasonal illness.
Period29 Mar 2023
Event titleRSU International Research Conference 2023: Knowledge for Use in Practice
Event typeConference
OrganiserRīga Stradiņš University
LocationRiga, LatviaShow on map
Degree of RecognitionInternational

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