Seroprevalence Trends of Antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 in South Korea, 2021–2022: A Repeated Cross-Sectional Study

IF 4.3 4区医学 Q1 INFECTIOUS DISEASES

Influenza and Other Respiratory Viruses Pub Date : 2025-06-03 DOI:10.1111/irv.70117

Ah-Ra Kim, Chiara Achangwa, Hyeon Nam Do, Eun Young Jang, Yukyung Nam, Seonghui Cho, Taegu Kim, Hye-Sook Jeong, Gi-eun Rhie, Kyungwon Oh, Seunghyun Lewis Kwon, Seunghyeon Lee, Junewoo Lee, Sukhyun Ryu

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Background

Monitoring immunity levels nationwide and identifying disparities are important to prepare for future pandemics. However, data regarding changes in the seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 and disparities in consecutive epidemic waves using existing surveillance systems are limited.

Methods

We conducted a cross-sectional serosurvey using 11,506 residual serum samples collected from the Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey between January 2021 and December 2022. Antibodies to the SARS-CoV-2 spike (anti-S) protein, indicative of vaccination or past infection of SARS-CoV-2, and nucleocapsid (anti-N) protein, indicating infection, were quantified. Then, we applied post-stratification weighting through the bootstrap resampling based on the age and sex distribution of the South Korean population. We used regression models to identify any disparities in the seropositivity prevalence ratio (PR) across different epidemic waves of SARS-CoV-2 and demographics in the population.

Results

We identified that the anti-S seropositivity gradually increased after the COVID-19 vaccination rollout, whereas anti-N seropositivity increased after the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant was introduced in Korea. Anti-S seropositivity PR was 0.12–0.76 times lower in individuals < 18 years than in elderly individuals ≥ 65 years during Waves 4–5 (July 2021 to June 2022). Anti-N seropositivity PR was 1.25–1.83 times higher in individuals less than 64 years than in elderly individuals during Waves 5–7 (January 2022 to December 2022).

Conclusions

Our findings provide insights into the dynamic changes in immunity levels among the Korean population after the COVID-19 vaccine rollout and the introduction of the Omicron variant. Identifying the disparity in seroprevalence in the study population during the pandemic by using the existing surveillance system provides helpful information to develop future pandemic preparedness plans for the population.

查看原文本刊更多论文

韩国2021-2022年SARS-CoV-2抗体血清流行趋势：一项重复横断面研究

监测全国的免疫水平并确定差异对于为未来的大流行做好准备非常重要。然而，利用现有监测系统，关于SARS-CoV-2血清流行率变化和连续流行波差异的数据有限。方法利用2021年1月至2022年12月期间韩国国家健康与营养检查调查中收集的11,506份剩余血清样本进行横断面血清调查。定量检测SARS-CoV-2刺突（抗s）蛋白抗体（表明接种过SARS-CoV-2或曾经感染过SARS-CoV-2）和核衣壳（抗n）蛋白抗体（表明感染过SARS-CoV-2）。然后，我们根据韩国人口的年龄和性别分布，通过自举重新抽样应用分层后加权。我们使用回归模型来确定不同SARS-CoV-2流行波和人口统计学中血清阳性患病率（PR）的差异。结果我们发现，在COVID-19疫苗接种后，抗s血清阳性逐渐增加，而在韩国引入SARS-CoV-2 Omicron变体后，抗n血清阳性增加。在第4-5波（2021年7月至2022年6月）期间，18岁以下人群的抗s血清阳性PR比≥65岁的老年人低0.12-0.76倍。在第5-7波期间（2022年1月至2022年12月），64岁以下人群的抗- n血清阳性PR是老年人的1.25-1.83倍。我们的研究结果为韩国人群在COVID-19疫苗推出和引入Omicron变体后免疫水平的动态变化提供了见解。利用现有监测系统确定大流行期间研究人群血清阳性率的差异，为制定未来人群大流行防范计划提供了有用的信息。

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来源期刊

Influenza and Other Respiratory Viruses 医学-病毒学

CiteScore

7.20

自引率

4.50%

发文量

120

审稿时长

6-12 weeks

期刊介绍： Influenza and Other Respiratory Viruses is the official journal of the International Society of Influenza and Other Respiratory Virus Diseases - an independent scientific professional society - dedicated to promoting the prevention, detection, treatment, and control of influenza and other respiratory virus diseases. Influenza and Other Respiratory Viruses is an Open Access journal. Copyright on any research article published by Influenza and Other Respiratory Viruses is retained by the author(s). Authors grant Wiley a license to publish the article and identify itself as the original publisher. Authors also grant any third party the right to use the article freely as long as its integrity is maintained and its original authors, citation details and publisher are identified.