Effect of School Closure on the Incidence of Influenza Among School-Age Children in Arizona
Effect of School Closure on the Incidence of Influenza Among School-Age Children in Arizona
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DOI：
10.1177/003335491012500612
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发表时间：
2010-11-01
影响因子：
3.3
通讯作者：
Jehn, Megan L.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Wheeler, Colleen C.;Erhart, Laura M.;Jehn, Megan L.
Objective.我们评估了在流感大流行的情况下关闭学校作为一种可行的干预措施的影响。我们评估了在2004-2008学年期间，在亚利桑那州5-17岁的儿童中，预定的两周寒假学校关闭对流感发生的影响。我们发现，在冬季学校关闭期间，当非学龄儿童和成人的流感发病率显著增加时，学龄儿童的受益模式是一致的，而学龄儿童的发病率没有增加。定量分析表明，关闭学校可以预防或推迟多达42%的学龄儿童潜在流感病例。此外，学龄儿童的患病率与成人和非学龄儿童相比，从关闭学校之前到关闭学校期间，患病率显著下降。这项分析提供的证据表明，与非学龄儿童相比，学龄儿童在冬季学校关闭期间可能会减缓流感传播。联邦、州和地方政策制定者在制定流感大流行和公共卫生应急准备计划时可能会考虑这些发现。
Objective. We assessed the impact of school closures as a viable intervention in the event of an influenza pandemic.Methods. We evaluated the effect of scheduled, two-week winter break school closures during the 2004-2008 school years on the occurrence of influenza among children aged 5-17 years in Arizona.Results. We found a consistent pattern of benefit to school-age children during winter school closures when non-school-age children and adults experienced significant increases in influenza incidence, an increase not seen among school-age children. Quantitative analysis showed that school closures may prevent or delay as much as 42% of potential influenza cases among school-age children. In addition, the ratio of illness in school-age children as compared with adults and non-school-age children decreased significantly from before to during the same school closure periods.Conclusion. This analysis provides evidence to suggest that school-age children may experience a slowing of influenza transmission during winter school closures compared with those not of school age. Federal, state, and local policy makers may consider these findings in their pandemic influenza and public health emergency preparedness planning efforts.