A systematic review of social contact surveys to inform transmission models of close contact infections

Abstract

Social contact data are increasingly being used to inform models for infectious disease spread with the aim of guiding effective policies on disease prevention and control. In this paper, we undertake a systematic review of the study design, statistical analyses and outcomes of the many social contact surveys that have been published. Our primary focus is to identify the designs that have worked best and the most important determinants and to highlight the most robust findings. Two publicly accessible online databases were systematically searched for articles regarding social contact surveys. PRISMA guidelines were followed as closely as possible. In total, 64 social contact surveys were identified. These surveys were conducted in 24 countries, and more than 80% of the surveys were conducted in high-income countries. Study settings included general population (58%), schools/universities (37%) and health care/conference/research institutes (5%). The majority of studies did not focus on a specific age group (38%), whereas others focused on adults (32%) or children (19%). Retrospective and prospective designs were used mostly (45% and 41% of the surveys, respectively) with 6% using both for comparison purposes. The definition of a contact varied among surveys, e.g. a non-physical contact may require conversation, 1. CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license It is made available under a (which was not peer-reviewed) is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity.The copyright holder for this preprint . http://dx.doi.org/10.1101/292235 doi: bioRxiv preprint first posted online Mar. 31, 2018; close proximity or both. Age, time schedule (e.g., weekday/weekend) and household size were identified as relevant determinants for contact pattern across a large number of studies. The surveys present a wide range of study designs. Throughout, we found that the overall contact patterns were remarkably robust for the study details. By considering the most common approach in each aspect of design (e.g., sampling schemes, data collection, definition of contact), we could identify a common practice approach that can be used to facilitate comparison between studies and for benchmarking future studies.

What are the underlying transmission patterns of COVID-19 outbreak? An age-specific social contact characterization

“…However, since the pandemic of COVID-19 is becoming more serious around the world, it will be desirable to conduct further analyses on a global scale. In this regard, the general methodology provided in this study can readily be applied, while considering country/region-specific social, demographic, and epidemiological characteristics, such as infection-related social contact patterns 37 . To further generalize and transfer our research, we plan to collaborate with researchers and practitioners around the world to conduct the corresponding analyses for other countries/regions.…”

Efficacy of contact tracing for the containment of the 2019 novel coronavirus (COVID-19)

“…Contact tracing has proven hugely successful in the treatment of sexually transmitted infections, where the definition of a contact is relatively straightforward, where the infection is often asymptomatic and where the time-scales of transmission are slow. 4 In contrast, the use of contact tracing for novel invading pathogens has received less quantitative consideration, in part due to greater uncertainties over social contact structure (although see 5 6 ) Modelling studies have often focused on quantifying the importance of pre-symptomatic and pre-tracing infectiousness, but are usually based on statistical distributions of contact networks. 7 8 Here we leverage detailed social network data from the UK to model both transmission and the act of tracing, and identify the implications of early contact tracing for containment of a novel pathogen, using parameters for the novel coronavirus (COVID-19).…”

Quantifying population contact patterns in the United States during the COVID-19 pandemic

“…Hoang et al (2019) reviews several studies in other countries and in specialized populations, such as schoolchildren.…”