This is a summary, written by members of the CITF Secretariat.

Azeez R, Lotoski L, Dubeau A, Rodriguez N, Reyna ME, Freitas T, Goguen S, Medeleanu M, Winsor GL, Brinkman FSL, Cameron EE, Roos L, Simons E, Moraes TJ, Mandhane PJ, Turvey SE, Bolotin S, Wright K, McNeil D, Patrick DM, Bullard J, Langlois MA, Arnold CR, Galipeau Y, Pelchat M, Doucas N, Subbarao P, Azad MB. Investigating SARS-CoV-2 infection and the health and psychosocial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in the Canadian CHILD Cohort: study methodology and cohort profile. medRxiv. 2022 Oct 21. doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2022.10.19.22281242.

The results and/or conclusions contained in the research do not necessarily reflect the views of all CITF members.

In a pre-print, not yet peer reviewed, Dr. Meghan Azad (University of Manitoba) and her team reported on the study design and cohort profile for research examining the prevalence and predictors of SARS-CoV-2 infection and transmission, as well as the predictors of the health and psychosocial impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic among Canadian children and their families.

Key points:

  • Children and families completed biweekly surveys about COVID-19 symptoms and testing, quarterly questionnaires assessing COVID-19 exposure and vaccination status and pandemic-driven life changes.
  • In-home blood collection was performed for SARS-CoV-2 IgG serology and biomarker analysis, and stool samples were taken for microbiome analysis.
  • Prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 infection was estimated from survey data and confirmed by serology testing.
  • The CHILD COVID-19 add-on study population included 5,378 participants from 1,462 households.
  • The recruited study population had a mean age of 9 years (range 0-17) for children and 43 years (range 18-85) for adults. The majority of participants (77%) were identified as having European ancestral origins and 68% of adults had a university degree.

This is a prospective longitudinal study using the CHILD cohort, which recruited 3,454 families with children born in British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba, and Ontario between 2009 to 2012. The researchers adopted a knowledge translation approach and have plans to disseminate findings to stakeholders and knowledge users in an effort to inform public health decision making.