[Epidemiology of mental well-being in childhood and adolescence. Results from three epidemiological studies before and during the COVID-19 pandemic]. / Epidemiologie seelischen Wohlbefindens von Kindern und Jugendlichen in Deutschland. Ergebnisse aus 3 Studien vor und während der COVID-19-Pandemie.

BACKGROUND: Continuous nationwide health monitoring is important to track the well-being of children and adolescents and to map developmental trajectories. Based on the results of three selected epidemiological studies, developments in child well-being over the past 20 years are presented. METHODS: Data are based on (1) the mental health module of the German National Health Interview and Examination Survey among Children and Adolescents (BELLA study, 2003-2017, N = 1500 to 3000), which is a module of the KiGGS study; (2) the COvid-19 and PSYchological Health Study (COPSY, 2020-2022, N = 1600-1700), which is based on the BELLA Study; and (3) the International Health-Behaviour in School-aged Children Study (HBSC, 2002-2018, N = 4300-7300). Well-being was assessed in 7­ to 17-year-olds using indicators of health-related quality of life (KIDSCREEN-10), life satisfaction (Cantril Ladder), and mental health problems (Strenghts and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ), Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders (SCARED), and Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale for Children (CES-DC)). RESULTS: Overall, children and adolescents show consistently high health-related quality of life and high overall life satisfaction pre-pandemic (2002-2018), which initially worsened with the onset of the 2020 COVID-19-pandemic. Two years later, improvements are evident but have not yet reached baseline levels. Psychological problems, as well as symptoms of anxiety and depression, increased by up to 12 percentage points at the beginning of the pandemic and are still higher two years after the onset of the pandemic compared to pre-pandemic studies. CONCLUSION: The epidemiology of child well-being provides a necessary data basis to assess the support needs of children and adolescents and to use this as a basis for developing measures of health promotion, prevention, and intervention.

Robust validation and performance comparison of immunogenicity assays assessing IgG and neutralizing antibodies to SARS-CoV-2.

To enable benchmarking of immunogenicity between candidate severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) vaccines, there is a need for standardized, validated immunogenicity assays. In this article, we report the design and criteria used to validate immunogenicity assays and the outcome of the validation of serologic and functional assays for the evaluation of functional immune response and antibody titers in human serum. A quantitative cell-based microneutralization (MNT) assay, utilizing a reference standard, for detecting anti-SARS-CoV-2 spike protein-neutralizing antibodies in human serum and Meso Scale Discovery's multiplex electrochemiluminescence (MSD ECL) assay for immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 spike, nucleocapsid, and receptor-binding domain (RBD) proteins were assessed for precision, accuracy, dilutional linearity, selectivity, and specificity using pooled human serum from coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)-confirmed recovered donors. Both assays met prespecified acceptance criteria for precision, relative accuracy, dilutional linearity, selectivity, and specificity. Both assays demonstrated high specificity for the different SARS-CoV-2 antigens or virus tested, and no significant cross-reactivity with seasonal coronaviruses. An evaluation to compare the neutralizing activity in the MNT assay to the IgG measured using the MSD ECL assay showed a strong correlation between the presence of neutralizing activity and amount of antibodies against the spike and RBD proteins in sera from both convalescent and vaccinated individuals. Finally, the MNT assay was calibrated to the WHO reference standard to enable reporting of results in international units, thus facilitating comparison of immunogenicity data generated by different assays and/or laboratories. The MSD ECL assay has previously been calibrated. In conclusion, these validated assays for the evaluation of functional immune response and antibody titers following SARS-CoV-2 vaccination could provide a relatively simple standardized approach for accurately comparing immune responses to different vaccines and/or vaccination regimens.