The familial risk of infection-related hospitalization in children: A population-based sibling study

Jessica E Miller; Kim W Carter; Nicholas de Klerk; David P Burgner

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0250181

The familial risk of infection-related hospitalization in children: A population-based sibling study

PLoS One. 2021 Apr 28;16(4):e0250181. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0250181. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Jessica E Miller^{1

2}, Kim W Carter³, Nicholas de Klerk³, David P Burgner^{1

2

4}

Affiliations

¹ Murdoch Children's Research Institute, Royal Children's Hospital, Parkville, Victoria, Australia.
² Department of Paediatrics, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia.
³ Telethon Kids Institute, University of Western Australia, Perth, Western Australia, Australia.
⁴ Department of Paediatrics, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria, Australia.

Abstract

Objective: To assess the risk of severe childhood infections within families, we conducted a sibling analysis in a population-based cohort study with genealogical linkage. We investigated the sibling risk of hospitalization with common infections, a marker of severity. We hypothesized that having siblings hospitalized for infection would increase the proband's risk of admission with infection.

Study design: We used population data on Western Australian live-born singletons and their siblings between 1980 and 2014. Measures of infection were infection-related hospitalizations from discharge diagnostic codes. Exposure was having a sibling who had an infection-related hospitalization. Outcomes were infection-related hospitalizations in the child/proband. Probands were followed until an infection-related hospitalization admission (up to the first three), death, 18th birthday, or end of 2014, whichever occurred first. Infection risks were estimated by adjusted Cox proportional hazard models for multiple events.

Results: Of 512,279 probands, 142,915 (27.9%) had infection-related hospitalizations; 133,322 (26.0%) had a sibling with a previous infection-related hospitalization (i.e. exposed). Median interval between sibling and proband infection-related hospitalizations was 1.4 years (inter-quartile range 0.5-3.7). Probands had a dose-dependent increase in risk if sibling/s had 1, 2, or 3+ infection-related hospitalizations (adjusted hazard ratio, aHR 1.41, 95% CI 1.39-1.43; aHR 1.65, 1.61-1.69; aHR 1.83, 1.77-1.90, respectively). Among siblings with the same clinical infection type, highest sibling risks were for genitourinary (aHR 2.06, 1.68-2.53), gastrointestinal (aHR 2.07, 1.94-2.19), and skin/soft tissue infections (aHR 2.34, 2.15-2.54). Overall risk of infection-related hospitalization was higher in children with more siblings and with older siblings.

Conclusion: In this population-based study, we observed an increased risk of infection-related hospitalization in children whose siblings were previously hospitalized for infection. Public health interventions may be particularly relevant in families of children hospitalized with infection.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Child
Child, Preschool
Female
Hospitalization*
Humans
Infant
Infections / therapy*
Male
Risk Assessment
Risk Factors
Siblings

Grants and funding

This work is supported by the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council GTN572742, GTN106594, and GTN1064829 and GTN1175744. Research at Murdoch Children’s Research Institute is supported by the Victorian Government’s Operational Infrastructure Support Program. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.