By Neha MathurOct 22 2022Reviewed by Danielle Ellis, B.Sc. In a recent study published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases, researchers conducted a nationwide study in Denmark to assess the public health impact of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 Omicron subvariant BA.5 relative to BA.2.
About the study In the present study, researchers first identified all Danish adults who ordered an RT-PCR test between 10 April and 30 June 2022. The national coronavirus disease 2019 surveillance system confirmed that these people had COVID-19 as their primary diagnosis. They used a case-control design to identify BA.5 or BA.2-infected people during the study period.
Finally, the researchers used a logistic regression model to estimate the immune protection from a previous infection with a 95% confidence interval . They presented it as one minus the model-derived odds ratio , similar to the method estimating vaccine effectiveness. They adjusted this model for gender, age, geographical area, comorbidities, and time of RT-PCR sampling, the last being a categorical variable.
A prior SARS-CoV-2 infection provided higher protection against BA.2 than BA.5 during the study duration. The results remained the same in sensitivity analyses employing a matched case-control design. Vaccine-induced immunity was almost similar for both BA.2 and BA.5. Although BA.5 showed slightly more immunity escape in recipients of two vaccine doses; however, more data could help arrive at more accurate estimates. Further, the study results evidenced higher hospitalization rates among BA.
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