Epidemiological and clinical characteristics of adenovirus-associated respiratory tract infection in children in Hangzhou, China, 2019−2024

Abstract

This study aimed to assess the impact of COVID-19 on the prevalence of adenovirus (AdV) infection in children. This study retrospectively analyzed the changes in the epidemiological and clinical features of AdV-associated respiratory infections in children in Hangzhou, China, between January 2019 and July 2024. A total of 771 316 samples were included in the study, and the positive rate was 6.10% (47 050/771 316). Among them, the positive rate of AdV infection was highest in 2019, reaching 11.29% (26 929/238 333), while the positive rates in the remaining years were between 2% and 9%. In terms of seasonal epidemic characteristics, the summer of 2019 was the peak of AdV incidence, with the positive rate peaking at around 16.95% (7275/45 268), followed by a gradual decline and a low-level epidemic in winter, with a positive rate of 8.79% (8094/92 060). However, during the period 2020−2024, the AdV epidemic season did not show any significant regularity. Gender analysis revealed that the positive rate of male patients was generally greater than that of female patients. In different age groups, the population susceptible to AdV changed before and after the epidemic. In the early and middle stages of the COVID-19 epidemic, the susceptible population was mainly 2−5 years old, whereas in the later stages of the epidemic, the susceptible population was 5−18 years old. In addition, the main clinical symptoms of AdV-positive children from 2019−2024 were respiratory tract symptoms and fever. In summary, the COVID-19 epidemic has had a certain impact on the prevalence of AdV. These findings provide an important basis and reference for the prevention and diagnosis of AdV, especially in the context of increasing age- and gender-specific public health strategies.