medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences

2021Jun15medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciencesmedRxivSocial Contact Patterns and Implications for Infectious Disease Transmission: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Contact Surveys.2021.06.10.2125872010.1101/2021.06.10.21258720Transmission of respiratory pathogens such as SARS-CoV-2 depends on patterns of contact and mixing across populations. Understanding this is crucial to predict pathogen spread and the effectiveness of control efforts. Most analyses of contact patterns to date have focussed on high-income settings.Here, we conduct a systematic review and individual-participant meta-analysis of surveys carried out in low- and middle-income countries and compare patterns of contact in these settings to surveys previously carried out in high-income countries. Using individual-level data from 28,503 participants and 413,069 contacts across 27 surveys we explored how contact characteristics (number, location, duration and whether physical) vary across income settings.Contact rates declined with age in high- and upper-middle-income settings, but not in low-income settings, where adults aged 65+ made similar numbers of contacts as younger individuals and mixed with all age-groups. Across all settings, increasing household size was a key determinant of contact frequency and characteristics, but low-income settings were characterised by the largest, most intergenerational households. A higher proportion of contacts were made at home in low-income settings, and work/school contacts were more frequent in high-income strata. We also observed contrasting effects of gender across income-strata on the frequency, duration and type of contacts individuals made.These differences in contact patterns between settings have material consequences for both spread of respiratory pathogens, as well as the effectiveness of different non-pharmaceutical interventions.This work is primarily being funded by joint Centre funding from the UK Medical Research Council and DFID (MR/R015600/1).MousaAndriaAMRC Centre for Global Infectious Disease Analysis; and the Abdul Latif Jameel Institute for Disease and Emergency Analytics (J-IDEA), School of Public Health, Imperial College London, London, UK.WinskillPeterPMRC Centre for Global Infectious Disease Analysis; and the Abdul Latif Jameel Institute for Disease and Emergency Analytics (J-IDEA), School of Public Health, Imperial College London, London, UK.WatsonOliver JOJMRC Centre for Global Infectious Disease Analysis; and the Abdul Latif Jameel Institute for Disease and Emergency Analytics (J-IDEA), School of Public Health, Imperial College London, London, UK.RatmannOliverODepartment of Mathematics, Imperial College London, London, UK.MonodMélodieMDepartment of Mathematics, Imperial College London, London, UK.AjelliMarcoMDepartment of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Indiana University School of Public Health, Bloomington, IN, USA.Laboratory for the Modeling of Biological and Socio-technical Systems, Northeastern University, Boston, MA.DialloAldioumaAVITROME, Institut de Recherche pour le Developpement, Senegal.DoddPeter JPJSchool of Health and Related Research, University of Sheffield, UK.GrijalvaCarlos GCGDivision of Pharmacoepidemiology, Department of Health Policy. Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Nashville, TN, USA.KitiMoses ChapaMCKEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme, Kilifi, Kenya.KrishnanAnandACentre for Community Medicine, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India.KumarRakeshRCentre for Community Medicine, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India.KumarSupriyaSBill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Seattle, USA.KwokKin OnKOJC School of Public Health and Primary Care, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China.Stanley Ho Centre for Emerging Infectious Diseases, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China.Shenzhen Research Institute of The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen, China.LanataClaudio FCFInstituto de Investigación Nutricional, Lima, Peru.Department of Medicine, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA.Le Polain de WarouxOlivierOLondon School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK.LeungKathyKWHO Collaborating Centre for Infectious Disease Epidemiology and Control, School of Public Health, LKS Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China.Laboratory of Data Discovery for Health (D24H), Hong Kong Science Park, New Territories, Hong Kong SAR, China.MahikulWiriyaWFaculty of Medicine and Public Health, HRH Princess Chulabhorn College of Medical Science, Chulabhorn Royal Academy, Bangkok 10210, Thailand.MelegaroAlessiaADondena Centre for Research on Social Dynamics and Public Policy, Department of Social and Political Sciences, Bocconi University, Milan, Italy.MorrowCarl DCDDesmond Tutu HIV Centre, Department of Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Cape Town, South Africa.Centre for Infectious Disease Epidemiology and Research (CIDER), School of Public Health and Family Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Cape Town South Africa.MossongJoëlJHealth Directorate, Luxembourg.NealEleanor FgEFInfection & Immunity, Murdoch Children's Research Institute, Parkville, Victoria, Australia.Department of Paediatrics, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia.NokesDavid JDJKEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme, Kilifi, Kenya.School of Life Sciences, University of Warwick, Coventry UK.Pan-NgumWirichadaWDepartment of Tropical Hygiene, Faculty of Tropical Medicine, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand.PotterGail EGENational Institute for Allergies and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Rockville MD, USA.The Emmes Company, Rockville MD, USA.RussellFiona MFMInfection & Immunity, Murdoch Children's Research Institute, Parkville, Victoria, Australia.Department of Paediatrics, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia.SahaSiddharthaSInfluenza Programme, US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, India Office, US Embassy, New Delhi.SugimotoJonathan DJDSeattle Epidemiologic Research and Information Center, Cooperative Studies Program, Office of Research and Development, United States Department of Veterans Affairs, USA.Department of Epidemiology, University of Washington, USA.Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, WA, USA.WeiWan InWIJC School of Public Health and Primary Care, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China.WoodRobin RRRDesmond Tutu HIV Centre, Department of Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Cape Town, South Africa.WuJoseph TJTWHO Collaborating Centre for Infectious Disease Epidemiology and Control, School of Public Health, LKS Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China.Laboratory of Data Discovery for Health (D24H), Hong Kong Science Park, New Territories, Hong Kong SAR, China.ZhangJuanjuanJSchool of Public Health, Fudan University, Key Laboratory of Public Health Safety, Ministry of Education, Shanghai, China.WalkerPatrick GtPGMRC Centre for Global Infectious Disease Analysis; and the Abdul Latif Jameel Institute for Disease and Emergency Analytics (J-IDEA), School of Public Health, Imperial College London, London, UK.WhittakerCharlesCMRC Centre for Global Infectious Disease Analysis; and the Abdul Latif Jameel Institute for Disease and Emergency Analytics (J-IDEA), School of Public Health, Imperial College London, London, UK.engK24 AI148459AINIAID NIH HHSUnited StatesU01 GM070749GMNIGMS NIH HHSUnited StatesWT_Wellcome TrustUnited KingdomMR/R015600/1MRC_Medical Research CouncilUnited KingdomMR/P022081/1MRC_Medical Research CouncilUnited KingdomPreprint20210615