Pathogens (Jul 2024)

Deciphering the Longevity and Levels of SARS-CoV-2 Antibodies in Children: A Year-Long Study Highlighting Clinical Phenotypes and Age-Related Variations

  • Gemma Pons-Tomàs,
  • Rosa Pino,
  • Aleix Soler-García,
  • Cristian Launes,
  • Irene Martínez-de-Albeniz,
  • María Ríos-Barnés,
  • Maria Melé-Casas,
  • María Hernández-García,
  • Manuel Monsonís,
  • Amadeu Gené,
  • Mariona-F. de-Sevilla,
  • Juan-José García-García,
  • Claudia Fortuny,
  • Victoria Fumadó

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/pathogens13080622
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 13, no. 8
p. 622

Abstract

Read online

Background: Identifying potential factors correlated with the sustained presence of antibodies in plasma may facilitate improved retrospective diagnoses and aid in the appraisal of pertinent vaccination strategies for various demographic groups. The main objective was to describe the persistence of anti-spike IgG one year after diagnosis in children and analyse its levels in relation to epidemiological and clinical variables. Methods: A prospective, longitudinal, observational study was conducted in a university reference hospital in the Metropolitan Region of Barcelona (Spain) (March 2020–May 2021). This study included patients under 18 years of age with SARS-CoV-2 infection (positive PCR or antigen tests for SARS-CoV-2). Clinical and serological follow-up one year after infection was performed. Results: We included 102 patients with a median age of 8.8 years. Anti-spike IgG was positive in 98/102 (96%) 12 months after the infection. There were higher anti-spike IgG levels were noted in patients younger than 2 years (p = 0.034) and those with pneumonia (p p = 0.027). Conclusion: Anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgG antibodies were detected in almost all paediatric patients one year after infection. We also observed a positive correlation between virus-specific IgG antibody titres with SARS-CoV-2 clinical phenotype (pneumonia) and age (under 2 years old).

Keywords