학술논문
Investigating SARS-CoV-2 Incidence and Morbidity in Ponce, Puerto Rico: Protocol and Baseline Results From a Community Cohort Study
Document Type
article
Author
Chelsea G Major; Dania M Rodríguez; Liliana Sánchez-González; Vanessa Rodríguez-Estrada; Tatiana Morales-Ortíz; Carolina Torres; Nicole M Pérez-Rodríguez; Nicole A Medina-Lópes; Neal Alexander; David Mabey; Kyle Ryff; Rafael Tosado-Acevedo; Jorge Muñoz-Jordán; Laura E Adams; Vanessa Rivera-Amill; Melissa Rolfes; Gabriela Paz-Bailey
Source
JMIR Research Protocols, Vol 13, p e53837 (2024)
Subject
Language
English
ISSN
1929-0748
Abstract
BackgroundA better understanding of SARS-CoV-2 infection risk among Hispanic and Latino populations and in low-resource settings in the United States is needed to inform control efforts and strategies to improve health equity. Puerto Rico has a high poverty rate and other population characteristics associated with increased vulnerability to COVID-19, and there are limited data to date to determine community incidence. ObjectiveThis study describes the protocol and baseline seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 in a prospective community-based cohort study (COPA COVID-19 [COCOVID] study) to investigate SARS-CoV-2 infection incidence and morbidity in Ponce, Puerto Rico. MethodsIn June 2020, we implemented the COCOVID study within the Communities Organized to Prevent Arboviruses project platform among residents of 15 communities in Ponce, Puerto Rico, aged 1 year or older. Weekly, participants answered questionnaires on acute symptoms and preventive behaviors and provided anterior nasal swab samples for SARS-CoV-2 polymerase chain reaction testing; additional anterior nasal swabs were collected for expedited polymerase chain reaction testing from participants that reported 1 or more COVID-19–like symptoms. At enrollment and every 6 months during follow-up, participants answered more comprehensive questionnaires and provided venous blood samples for multiantigen SARS-CoV-2 immunoglobulin G antibody testing (an indicator of seroprevalence). Weekly follow-up activities concluded in April 2022 and 6-month follow-up visits concluded in August 2022. Primary study outcome measures include SARS-CoV-2 infection incidence and seroprevalence, relative risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection by participant characteristics, SARS-CoV-2 household attack rate, and COVID-19 illness characteristics and outcomes. In this study, we describe the characteristics of COCOVID participants overall and by SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence status at baseline. ResultsWe enrolled a total of 1030 participants from 388 households. Relative to the general populations of Ponce and Puerto Rico, our cohort overrepresented middle-income households, employed and middle-aged adults, and older children (P