Effect of the varicella vaccination on the clinical characteristics of herpes zoster cases aged 20 years and under / 中华预防医学杂志

To discuss the effect of varicella vaccination on the clinical characteristics of herpes zoster (shingles) cases aged 20 years and under, and analyze its clinical features. Based on the Yichang Health Big Data Platform, a descriptive study was conducted to collect the information of cases aged 20 years and under in three medical institutions of Yichang Central People's Hospital, Yichang First People's Hospital and Yichang Second People's Hospital from March 2019 to September 2020. According to the history of varicella vaccine, cases were divided into vaccination group and non-vaccination group, and their clinical features and outcomes were compared. The results showed that 46 shingles cases, aged from 7 to 20 years old, were included in this study. 26 males (56.5%), 20 females (43.5%), 15 cases in vaccination group (32.6%) and 31 cases in non-vaccination group (67.4%). 28 cases had thoracic involvement, followed by lumbar (n=8), cranial (n=7) involvements and extremities (n=7). The spread of herpes skin area: 2 cases involved too large area, 21 cases of 10 cm×10 cm, 14 cases of 5 cm×5 cm, 9 cases of 1 cm×1 cm. Herpes number: 26 cases had 10-49 herpes, followed by <10 herpes (n=9), uncountable herpes (n=7) and 50-99 herpes (n=4). The clinical course[M(Q1,Q3)] lasted 20.5 (13.5,24.8) d averagely, 5 cases had postherpetic neuralgia (PHN) and 1 case had respiratory complications. Shingles decrustation time was significantly shorter in vaccination group (Z=-2.01, P<0.05), and there was no significant difference in other characteristics by vaccination. In conclusion, the number and spread of shingles in most children and adolescents are less, and the complications such as PHN are less. Varicella vaccination can reduce the decrustation time and relieve shingles cases with some clinical symptoms.

Increases in Height among Chinese Children and Adolescents by Gender: An Age-Period-Cohort Analysis / 生物医学与环境科学（英文）

Objective@#To examine increases in average height among Chinese children and adolescents.@*Methods@#The data were obtained from the China Health and Nutrition Survey conducted during the period 1989-2015. A stratified multistage cluster sampling method was utilized to select participants aged 2-22 years in each province. Linear regression was used to examine the effects of age, birth cohort, and survey period on height.@*Results@#A total of 15,227 males and 13,737 females were included in the final analysis. Age (A) showed a continuous effect on height. The average heights of the investigated groups increased continuously during the investigation period. By 2015, the average height of the overall group increased by 7.87 cm compared to the average height during the 1989 survey. Moreover, birth year (cohort, C) also had a stable effect on height. Using the height of individuals born in or before 1975 as a reference, the average height of each birth cohort increased in comparison to the previous birth cohort.@*Conclusions@#The height of Chinese children and adolescents was affected by age, period, and cohort effects, and this effect is governed by certain rules. The age-period-cohort model can be used to analyze the trends of children's and adolescent's heights. The findings provide a scientific basis for the formulation of children's and adolescents' growth and development policies in China.

Effect of aluminum hydroxide adjuvant on the immunogenicity of the 2009 pandemic influenza A/H1N1 vaccine: multi-level modeling of data with repeated measures / 生物医学与环境科学（英文）

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To evaluate the effect of the aluminum hydroxide (Al-OH) adjuvant on the 2009 pandemic influenza A/H1N1 (pH1N1) vaccine.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>In a multicenter, double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial, participants received two doses of split-virion formulation containing 15 μg hemagglutinin antigen, with or without aluminum hydroxide (Al-OH). We classified the participants into six age categories (>61 years, 41-60 years, 19-40 years, 13-18 years, 8-12 years, and 3-7 years) and obtained four blood samples from each participant on days 0, 21, 35, and 42 following the first dose of immunization. We assessed vaccine immunogenicity by measuring the geometric mean titer (GMT) of hemagglutination inhibiting antibody. We used a two-level model to evaluate the fixed effect of aluminum Al-OH and other factors, accounting for repeated measures.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The predictions of repeated measurement on GMTs of formulations with or without Al-OH, were 80.35 and 112.72, respectively. Al-OH significantly reduced immunogenicity after controlling for time post immunization, age-group and gender.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The Al-OH adjuvant does not increase but actually reduces the immunogenicity of the split-virion pH1N1 vaccine.</p>

Study on the immunity of diphtheria in children at county level with different 4-vaccine coverage rates based on the results from "National Immunization Program Review" in 2004 / 中华流行病学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the immunity level of diphtheria antibody among children living in the areas where different coverage rates of 4-vaccines stratified by results of national immunization program (NIP) reviewed in 2004.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>According to data from 4-vaccine coverage rates of NIP reviewed in 2004, 3 levels could be set. We randomly selected 2 counties at each level and then 10 villages from each county with 42 children involved who were born between 1992 and 2003. ELISA quantitative method was used to test IgG of diphtheria antitoxin.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>(1) The positive rate of diphtheria antitoxin was only 49.6% with the highest as 78.1% and lowest as 33.0%. There was a significant decreasing trend of this positive rate with the increase of age. The highest (61.2%) fell in the group that were born in 2003 and the lowest (37.6%) was seen among children born in 1992 to 1995. (2) Geometric mean concentrations (GMCs) was only 0.48 IU/ml with a trend of decrease when age was increasing. There was no GMCs peak seen in children who were at the age of boosting, as expected. (3) Positive rates of children born between 2001 and 2003 were lower than 62% while the diphtheria-pertussis-tetanus (DPT) vaccine coverage rates were all higher than 90%. (4) There was no significant difference of diphtheria antitoxin positive rates between children with eligible routine immunization (58.1%) and those were ineligible (59.6%).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Other than some specific ones, children from most of the investigated counties had a low level of antibody against diphtheria. The coverage rate of DPT vaccine did not necessarily reflect the immunity against diphtheria, suggesting the increase of immunity against diphtheria an urgent task to be taken care of.</p>