People with young children at home may be less likely than others to contract severe Covid-19. At least, that’s what a study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences In the 27th of this article, adults who do not live with children have a 49% increased risk of hospitalization.

The theory is that kids bring home a cold one from nursery school or school, and this mild infection may offer some protection against severe Covid-19. To better understand this relationship, a team of scientists combed through the medical records of more than 3 million patients seen at a California hospital from February 2019 to January 2021.

By analyzing patients who have contracted Covid, researchers found that adults without children had a 49% greater risk of needing hospitalization and a 76% greater risk of ending up in the intensive care unit, compared to patients with children 5 years of age or younger. .

“Having young children does not provide absolute protection. Our study only points to this effect. It is a small piece of a larger puzzle that scientists are working on. Why do some people get severe Covid-19 while others do not? The issues around something are very complex,” the study says. .

However, the article’s authors point out an important limitation: the research was conducted before mass vaccination against COVID-19. Furthermore, it is unclear whether any immunity conferred by the common cold can apply to all variants, especially the more contagious current strains, which include the BA.5 and BA.4 sub variants of μM.

source: PNAS Across Medical Express

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