People with food allergies were less likely to contract the virus, while obese people and people with high body mass index (BMI) were more likely to contract the virus.
The study was supported by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID).
The research team intensively monitored more than 4,000 members of about 1,400 households in 12 U.S. cities from May 2020 to 2021. These people belonged to households with at least one person under the age of 21.
The monitoring period was before the coronavirus vaccine was widely available to the general public, not healthcare workers, and before several coronavirus strains appeared.
According to the study results, children under the age of 12 are as likely to be infected with the coronavirus as adults and adolescents, but about three-quarters of children infected show no symptoms. It was also confirmed that the rate of corona infection in families with young children is high.
It also found that people with food allergies were half as likely to contract the coronavirus as those who did not. It was analyzed that this is because the level of the ACE2 receptor protein on the surface of the airway (hidden) cell surface drops, making it difficult for the virus to bind to this receptor and invade human cells.
According to the research team, ‘type 2 inflammation’, a characteristic of allergic diseases, can lower the level of angiotensin converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) receptor protein.
However, the coronavirus uses this receptor to enter cells. Decreased levels of the ACE2 receptor protein may reduce the ability of the virus to infect cells. A food allergy is one such case.
However, the researchers found that other than food allergies, asthma, allergic rhinitis, and eczema did not significantly affect the risk of contracting the coronavirus.
The study also found that for every 10 points increase in BMI, the risk of contracting the virus increased by about 9%. BMI is the weight (kg) divided by the square of the height (m2).
In particular, people who were overweight or obese had a 41% higher risk of contracting the coronavirus than people of normal weight.
Among households with a single person infected with the virus, 58% of households had member-to-member transmission. Close contact with people infected with the corona virus played a role as a risk factor for infection.
Anthony Fauci, director of the NIAID study, said: “These findings reminds us of the importance of immunization for children and the importance of public health measures to prevent the spread of coronavirus in children.”
“The association between food allergy and risk of coronavirus infection and the association between body mass index and risk of coronavirus infection are worth further investigation, respectively,” he added.
The results of this study were published in the ≪Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology≫ and introduced by the American health media ‘Health Day’.
By Kim Young-seop, staff reporter [email protected]
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