Routine Surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 Serostatus in Pediatrics Allows Monitoring of Humoral Response

Wachter F, Knieling F, Raming R, Simon D, Wölfle J, Hörning A, Neubert A, Rauh M, Regensburger A (2023)

Publication Type: Journal article

Publication year: 2023

Journal

Microorganisms MDPI

Book Volume: 11

Pages Range: 2919

Journal Issue: 12

DOI: 10.3390/microorganisms11122919

Abstract

The occurrence of SARS-CoV-2 infections during the pandemic was mainly based on PCR testing of symptomatic patients. However, with new variants, vaccinations, and the changing of the clinical disease severity, knowledge about general immunity is elusive. For public health systems, timely knowledge of these conditions is essential, but it is particularly scarce for the pediatric population. Therefore, in this study, we wanted to investigate the spike and nucleocapsid seroprevalence in pediatric patients using routine residual blood tests collected during the pandemic. This prospective observational study was conducted over seven one-month periods. Herein, the latest four time periods (November 2021, January 2022, March 2022, and May 2022) are depicted. Each patient of a tertiary-care center in Germany was anonymized after collection of clinical diagnosis (ICD-10) and then routinely tested for the respective spike and nucleocapsid SARS-CoV-2 antibody titer. A total of 3235 blood samples from four time periods were included. Spike seroprevalence rose from 37.6% to 51.9% to 70.5% to 85.1% and nucleocapsid seroprevalence from 11.6% to 17.0% to 36.7% to 58.1% in May 2022. In detail, significant changes in seroprevalence between age groups but not between sex or diagnosis groups were found. Quantitative measures revealed rising spike and constant nucleocapsid antibody levels over the pandemic with a half-life of 102 days for spike and 45 days for nucleocapsid antibodies. Routine laboratory assessment of SARS-CoV-2 in residual blood specimens of pediatric hospitals enables monitoring of the seroprevalence and may allow inferences about general immunity in this cohort.

Authors with CRIS profile

Ferdinand Knieling Department of Paediatrics and Adolescent Medicine Roman Raming Department of Paediatrics and Adolescent Medicine David Simon Department of Medicine 3 – Rheumatology and Immunology Joachim Wölfle Lehrstuhl für Kinder- und Jugendmedizin André Hörning Department of Paediatrics and Adolescent Medicine Antje Neubert Department of Paediatrics and Adolescent Medicine Manfred Rauh Department of Paediatrics and Adolescent Medicine Adrian Regensburger Department of Paediatrics and Adolescent Medicine

Additional Organisation(s)

Interdisziplinäres Zentrum für Klinische Forschung

Related research project(s)

J089: Multispectral optoacoustic tomography for non invasive characterization of strictures in Crohn’s disease Jan. 1, 2021 - March 31, 2024

How to cite

APA:

Wachter, F., Knieling, F., Raming, R., Simon, D., Wölfle, J., Hörning, A.,... Regensburger, A. (2023). Routine Surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 Serostatus in Pediatrics Allows Monitoring of Humoral Response. Microorganisms, 11(12), 2919. https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms11122919

MLA:

Wachter, Felix, et al. "Routine Surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 Serostatus in Pediatrics Allows Monitoring of Humoral Response." Microorganisms 11.12 (2023): 2919.

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