No significant association exists between antibody positivity and household size, household member history of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) illness, activities, or masking, according to a study involving COVID-19-unvaccinated children.
However, “[t]here is a relationship between vaccination of household members and lower antibody positivity rates,” the investigators said.
In this study, investigators obtained cross-sectional data from the New Jersey Department of Health’s COVID Antibody Surveillance Project at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School in the US. Two hundred fifty children, aged 18 months to 11 years, who had not received COVID-19 vaccines were included.
Participants were recruited from the paediatric clinic, with guardians providing data on activity participation, masking behaviours, and household characteristics through an online survey. Finally, the investigators assessed SARS-CoV-2 antibodies using the Diabetomics CovAb oral gum swab test.
Antibody positivity was 67.1 percent for children in the preschool cohort (18 months‒5 years) and 70.5 percent for those in the school-age cohort (5‒11 years). Children in households without vaccinated adults had higher antibody positivity than those in households with at least one vaccinated adult (82.1 percent vs 63.9 percent; p=0.03).
In addition, no significant difference was observed in antibody positivity by household size: 68.1 percent in the 2‒4-member group, 66.2 percent in the 5‒7-member group, and 40 percent in the 8-or-more-member group.