The following is a summary of “Contribution of SARS-CoV-2 to the burden of acute respiratory infections in winter season 2022/2023: Results from the DigiHero study,” published in April 2024 issue of Infectious Disease by Glaser et al.
In winter 2022/23, SARS-CoV-2 developed into one of many seasonal respiratory pathogens, causing more acute respiratory infections (ARIs). However, many positive cases weren’t officially reported.
Researchers conducted a retrospective study using data from a population-based cohort to determine how much SARS-CoV-2 contributed to the winter 2022/23 ARI burden.
They evaluated 70,000 DigiHero study participants to report on the number and timing of ARI episodes, along with SARS-CoV-2 test results, during winter 2022/23. Later, the incidence of non-SARS ARI was calculated, and the additional burden of SARS-CoV-2 was determined. The age-specific estimates were also derived to ascertain the total SARS-CoV-2 burden in Germany.
The results showed that in the winter of 2022/23, 37,708 participants reported 54,813 ARI, including 9,358 infections. This data meant an incidence of 145 infections/100 people for all ARI and 120 infections/100 people for non-SARS ARI, with SARS-CoV-2 accounting for 25 out of 100 people (+21%).
Investigators concluded that SARS-CoV-2 significantly increased the ARI load in pre-pandemic years and the winters of 2022/23, with implications for the workforce.
Source: ijidonline.com/article/S1201-9712(24)00128-0/fulltext
