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PLoS ONE. Attack Rates Assessment of the 2009 Pandemic H1N1 Influenza A in Children and Their Contacts: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
[Source: PLoS ONE, full text: (LINK). Abstract, edited.]
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Attack Rates Assessment of the 2009 Pandemic H1N1 Influenza A in Children and Their Contacts: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
Aharona Glatman-Freedman<SUP>1</SUP><SUP>,</SUP><SUP>2</SUP><SUP>*</SUP>, Ian Portelli<SUP>3</SUP><SUP>,</SUP><SUP>4</SUP>, Susan K. Jacobs<SUP>5</SUP>, Justin I. Mathew<SUP>6</SUP>, Jonathan E. Slutzman<SUP>7</SUP>, Lewis R. Goldfrank<SUP>3</SUP><SUP>,</SUP><SUP>4</SUP>, Silas W. Smith<SUP>3</SUP><SUP>,</SUP><SUP>4</SUP>
<SUP></SUP>
1 Department of Family and Community Medicine, New York Medical College, Valhalla, New York, United States of America, 2 Global Public Health Master?s Program, New York University, New York, New York, United States of America, 3 Department of Emergency Medicine, New York University School of Medicine, New York, New York, United States of America, 4 The Center for Catastrophe Preparedness and Response, New York University, New York, New York, United States of America, 5 Elmer Holmes Bobst Library, New York University, New York, New York, United States of America, 6 Hunter College, The City University of New York, New York, New York, United States of America, 7 Department of Emergency Medicine, Brigham & Women?s Hospital, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America
Abstract
Background
The recent H1N1 influenza A pandemic was marked by multiple reports of illness and hospitalization in children, suggesting that children may have played a major role in the propagation of the virus. A comprehensive detailed analysis of the attack rates among children as compared with their contacts in various settings is of great importance for understanding their unique role in influenza pandemics.
Methodology/Principal Findings
We searched MEDLINE (PubMed) and Embase for published studies reporting outbreak investigations with direct measurements of attack rates of the 2009 pandemic H1N1 influenza A among children, and quantified how these compare with those of their contacts. We identified 50 articles suitable for review, which reported school, household, travel and social events. The selected reports and our meta-analysis indicated that children had significantly higher attack rates as compared to adults, and that this phenomenon was observed for both virologically confirmed and clinical cases, in various settings and locations around the world. The review also provided insight into some characteristics of transmission between children and their contacts in the various settings.
Conclusion/Significance
The consistently higher attack rates of the 2009 pandemic H1N1 influenza A among children, as compared to adults, as well as the magnitude of the difference is important for understanding the contribution of children to disease burden, for implementation of mitigation strategies directed towards children, as well as more precise mathematical modeling and simulation of future influenza pandemics.
Citation: Glatman-Freedman A, Portelli I, Jacobs SK, Mathew JI, Slutzman JE, et al. (2012) Attack Rates Assessment of the 2009 Pandemic H1N1 Influenza A in Children and Their Contacts: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. PLoS ONE 7(11): e50228. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0050228
Editor: Benjamin J. Cowling, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
Received: February 21, 2012; Accepted: October 18, 2012; Published: November 30, 2012
Copyright: ? 2012 Glatman-Freedman et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Funding: L.R.G. is a recipient of the United States Department of Defense contract numbers W81XW4-07-1-0517 (Agents of Opportunity) and DOD 2007-NYU-001 (LaSER PLAN C: Pandemic Influenza) as well as New York University/Polytechnic Seed Funding (Pandemic Influenza complex modeling). A.G.-F. is a recipient of the Nan A. Lightstone Foundation grant for innovation in infectious disease research. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.
Competing interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
* E-mail: af1200@nyu.edu
-Aharona Glatman-Freedman<SUP>1</SUP><SUP>,</SUP><SUP>2</SUP><SUP>*</SUP>, Ian Portelli<SUP>3</SUP><SUP>,</SUP><SUP>4</SUP>, Susan K. Jacobs<SUP>5</SUP>, Justin I. Mathew<SUP>6</SUP>, Jonathan E. Slutzman<SUP>7</SUP>, Lewis R. Goldfrank<SUP>3</SUP><SUP>,</SUP><SUP>4</SUP>, Silas W. Smith<SUP>3</SUP><SUP>,</SUP><SUP>4</SUP>
<SUP></SUP>
1 Department of Family and Community Medicine, New York Medical College, Valhalla, New York, United States of America, 2 Global Public Health Master?s Program, New York University, New York, New York, United States of America, 3 Department of Emergency Medicine, New York University School of Medicine, New York, New York, United States of America, 4 The Center for Catastrophe Preparedness and Response, New York University, New York, New York, United States of America, 5 Elmer Holmes Bobst Library, New York University, New York, New York, United States of America, 6 Hunter College, The City University of New York, New York, New York, United States of America, 7 Department of Emergency Medicine, Brigham & Women?s Hospital, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America
Abstract
Background
The recent H1N1 influenza A pandemic was marked by multiple reports of illness and hospitalization in children, suggesting that children may have played a major role in the propagation of the virus. A comprehensive detailed analysis of the attack rates among children as compared with their contacts in various settings is of great importance for understanding their unique role in influenza pandemics.
Methodology/Principal Findings
We searched MEDLINE (PubMed) and Embase for published studies reporting outbreak investigations with direct measurements of attack rates of the 2009 pandemic H1N1 influenza A among children, and quantified how these compare with those of their contacts. We identified 50 articles suitable for review, which reported school, household, travel and social events. The selected reports and our meta-analysis indicated that children had significantly higher attack rates as compared to adults, and that this phenomenon was observed for both virologically confirmed and clinical cases, in various settings and locations around the world. The review also provided insight into some characteristics of transmission between children and their contacts in the various settings.
Conclusion/Significance
The consistently higher attack rates of the 2009 pandemic H1N1 influenza A among children, as compared to adults, as well as the magnitude of the difference is important for understanding the contribution of children to disease burden, for implementation of mitigation strategies directed towards children, as well as more precise mathematical modeling and simulation of future influenza pandemics.
Citation: Glatman-Freedman A, Portelli I, Jacobs SK, Mathew JI, Slutzman JE, et al. (2012) Attack Rates Assessment of the 2009 Pandemic H1N1 Influenza A in Children and Their Contacts: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. PLoS ONE 7(11): e50228. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0050228
Editor: Benjamin J. Cowling, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
Received: February 21, 2012; Accepted: October 18, 2012; Published: November 30, 2012
Copyright: ? 2012 Glatman-Freedman et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Funding: L.R.G. is a recipient of the United States Department of Defense contract numbers W81XW4-07-1-0517 (Agents of Opportunity) and DOD 2007-NYU-001 (LaSER PLAN C: Pandemic Influenza) as well as New York University/Polytechnic Seed Funding (Pandemic Influenza complex modeling). A.G.-F. is a recipient of the Nan A. Lightstone Foundation grant for innovation in infectious disease research. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.
Competing interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
* E-mail: af1200@nyu.edu
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