Abstract
The Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) is a prospective population-based cohort which recruited pregnant women in 1990-1992 and has followed these women, their partners (Generation 0; G0) and their offspring (Generation 1; G1) ever since. The study reacted rapidly and repeatedly to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, deploying multiple online questionnaires and a previous home-based antibody test in October 2020. A second antibody test, in collaboration with ten other longitudinal population studies, was completed by 4,622 ALSPAC participants between April and June 2021. Of participants with a valid spike protein antibody test result (4,241; 8.2% void), indicating antibody response to either COVID-19 vaccination or natural infection, 3,172 were positive (74.8%). Generational differences were substantial, with 2,463/2,555 G0 participants classified positive (96.4%) compared to 709/1,686 G1 participants (42.1%). Of participants with a valid nucleocapsid antibody test result (4,199; 9.2% void), suggesting potential and recent natural infection, 493 were positive (11.7%); with 248/2,526 G0 participants (9.8%) and 245/1,673 G1 participants (14.6%) testing positive, respectively. We also compare results for this round of testing to that undertaken in October 2020. Future work will combine these test results with additional sources of data to identify participants' COVID-19 infection and vaccination status. These ALSPAC COVID-19 serology data are being complemented with linkage to health records and Public Health England pillar testing results as they become available, in addition to four previous questionnaire waves and a prior antibody test. Data have been released as an update to the previous COVID-19 datasets. These comprise: 1) a standard dataset containing all participant responses to all four previous questionnaires with key sociodemographic factors; and 2) individual participant-specific release files enabling bespoke research across all areas supported by the study. This data note describes the second ALSPAC antibody test and the data obtained from it.
Highlights
At the time of writing (October 2021), the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is over a year into its natural history
Given that many people infected with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) remain asymptomatic, antibody testing is a useful tool for assessing the prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 infection in the general population
The wider COVID-19 data collection in Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) includes data from three main sources: self-reported data from questionnaires, data from clinical services based on linkage to medical and other records and information from biological samples
Summary
At the time of writing (October 2021), the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is over a year into its natural history. The wider COVID-19 data collection in ALSPAC includes data from three main sources: self-reported data from questionnaires, data from clinical services based on linkage to medical and other records (such as Public Health England [PHE] Pillar I and II testing13) and information from biological samples The data from these sources are intended to be complementary and help address different potential research questions around COVID-19. The primary aim of the first home-based antibody test in October 202010 was to identity how many people in the study may have been infected with SARS-CoV-2 given the asymptomatic nature of the disease in many cases The aim of this second antibody test was again to measure infection prevalence within the study (at a later time-point; April 2021; allowing the study of the tenure of immune response), and to identify antibody response to COVID-19 vaccination and patterns of maintained immune response in the unvaccinated. This test was administered by ten other longitudinal population studies; combined results and detailed descriptions of infected and vaccinated cases will be presented elsewhere
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