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. 2022 May 28;37(5):549–561. doi: 10.1007/s10654-022-00870-9

Table 2.

Characteristics of the household members n = 644

Characteristics No. (%)$ P-value Univariable RR Multivariable RR (95% CI)
Total Secondary case No secondary case Per person SAR (95% CI)¥ Univariable RR (95% CI)
Household members at risk 644 200 444
Age group in years 0.60
  > 18 394 (61.3%) 129 (64.5%) 265 (59.8%) 33.8 (28.8–39.2) Ref
 12–18 107 (16.6%) 28 (14.0%) 79 (17.8%) 29.4 (21.1–39.3) 0.87 (0.63–1.19)
  < 12 142 (22.1%) 43 (21.5%) 99 (22.3%) 30.9 (23.3–39.7) 0.91 (0.70–1.19)
Sex 0.30
 Female 315 (48.9%) 93 (46.5%) 222 (50.0%) 31.0 (25.7–36.8) Ref
 Male 329 (51.1%) 107 (53.5%) 222 (50.0%) 34.0 (28.8–39.7) 1.10 (0.92–1.32)
Underlying medical condition 0.37
 No underlying medical condition 566 (89.1%) 174 (87.0%) 392 (90.1%) 32.4 (27.8–37.4) Ref
 Any underlying medical condition 69 (10.9%) 26 (13.0%) 43 (9.9%) 37.1 (27.0–48.4) 1.14 (0.85–1.54)
Relationship to index case 0.01
 Spouse 171 (26.9%) 71 (36.6%) 100 (22.6%) 42.3 (35.2–49.7) Ref Ref
 Child 211 (33.2%) 66 (34.0%) 145 (32.8%) 33.4 (26.3–41.3) 0.79 (0.62–1.00) 0.78 (0.62–0.98)
 Parent 122 (19.2%) 28 (14.4%) 94 (21.3%) 22.5 (14.8–32.7) 0.53 (0.35–0.82) 0.66 (0.37–1.19)
 Siblings 79 (12.4%) 16 (8.2%) 63 (14.3%) 19.5 (11.3–31.5) 0.46 (0.27–0.79) 0.58 (0.31–1.10)
 Friend/other housemate 53 (8.3%) 13 (6.7%) 40 (9.0%) 22.6 (12.2–38.2) 0.54 (0.29–0.97) 0.50 (0.28–0.89)
Index case age group, years 0.03
  > 18 489 (76.6%) 172 (86.4%) 317 (72.2%) 36.2 (31.1–41.7) Ref Ref
 12–18 85 (13.3%) 19 (9.5%) 66 (15.0%) 22.6 (12.0–38.4) 0.62 (0.34–1.14) 0.85 (0.39–1.85)
  < 12 64 (10.0%) 8 (4.0%) 56 (12.8%) 13.4 (5.3–29.9) 0.37 (0.15–0.90) 0.60 (0.20–1.82)
Index case sex 0.95
 Female 400 (62.1%) 119 (59.5%) 281 (63.3%) 32.4 (27.0–38.4) Ref
 Male 244 (37.9%) 81 (40.5%) 163 (36.7%) 33.8 (25.3–41.3) 1.01 (0.75–1.37)
Index case BMI* 0.23
 Age < 2 years 4 (0.6%) 1 (0.5%) 3 (0.7%) - -
 Normal weight 367 (58.6%) 123 (62.1%) 244 (57.0%) 35.8 (29.5–42.6) Ref
 Underweight 9 (1.4%) 1 (0.5%) 8 (1.9%) 11.1 (0.2–43.1) 0.31 (0.06–1.55)
 Overweight 192 (30.7%) 54 (27.3%) 138 (32.2%) 28.0 (20.8–36.6) 0.78 (0.56–1.10)
 Obesity 54 (8.6%) 19 (9.6%) 35 (8.2%) 38.3 (24.2–54.7) 1.07 (0.68–1.68)
Index case having any underlying medical condition 0.57
 No 572 (90.1%) 184 (92.0%) 388 (89.2%) 33.6 (28.7–38.8) Ref
 Yes 63 (9.9%) 16 (8.0%) 47 (10.8%) 29.0 (17.3–44.5) 0.87 (0.53–1.43)
Index case symptom status 0.01
 ARI 482 (75.3%) 171 (85.5%) 311 (70.7%) 37.3 (31.9–43.0) Ref Ref
 Mild symptoms 132 (20.6%) 27 (13.5%) 105 (23.9%) 21.3 (13.8–31.5) 0.57 (0.37–0.89) 0.57 (0.36–0.90)
Asymptomatic 26 (4.1%) 2 (1.0%) 24 (5.5%) 8.0 (1.2–38.9) 0.21 (0.03–1.35) 0.29 (0.05–1.89)
Index case hospitalized at time of enrollment 0.87
 Yes 21 (3.3%) 6 (3.0%) 15 (3.4%) 30.4 (11.1–60.5) Ref
 No 620 (96.7%) 193 (97.0%) 427 (96.6%) 32.6 (28.0–37.6) 1.07 (0.44–2.61)
Inclusion season 0.20
 Winter (Dec–Feb) 154 (23.9%) 63 (31.5%) 91 (20.5%) 41.1 (31.0–51.9) Ref
 Spring (March–May) 78 (12.1%) 23 (11.5%) 55 (12.4%) 33.8 (21.5–48.7) 0.82 (0.51–1.34)
 Summer (June–August) 34 (5.3%) 7 (3.5%) 27 (6.1%) 23.9 (10.7–45.1) 0.58 (0.27–1.27)
 Autumn (Sept–Nov) 378 (58.7%) 107 (53.5%) 271 (61.0%) 29.8 (24.3–35.9) 0.73 (0.53–1.00)
Inclusion site 0.32
 UA (Belgium) 74 (11.5%) 26 (13.0%) 48 (10.8%) 40.5 (27.8–54.5) Ref
 UCHB (Switzerland) 103 (16.0%) 30 (15.0%) 73 (16.4%) 26.9 (16.7–40.2) 0.66 (0.38–1.16)
 UMCU (Netherlands) 467 (72.5%) 144 (72.0%) 323 (72.7%) 32.5 (27.3–38.3) 0.80 (0.55–1.17)

$Some numbers might not add up to 644 due to missing values

¥Per-person SARs and related relative risks are estimated by using GEE models taking into account clustering within households

*BMI only available for index cases ≥ 2 years. BMI categories for index cases 2–20 year defined as BMI z-score < -2 = underweight, BMI z-score -2–1 = normal weight, BMI z-score 1–2 = overweight, BMI z-score > 2 = obesity. BMI categories for index cases ≥ 21 years defined as BMI < 18.5 = Underweight, BMI 18.5–25 = Normal weight, BMI 25–30 = Overweight" & BMI > 30 = Obesity [47]

Abbreviations: 95% CI: 95% confidence interval, SAR: Secondary attack rate, RR: Relative Risk, BMI: Body Mass Index, UA: University Hospital of Antwerp, UCHB: University Children’s Hospital Basel University, UMCU: University Medical Centre Utrecht