Dataset Information

The role of heterogeneity in contact timing and duration in network models of influenza spread in schools.

ABSTRACT: Influenza poses a significant health threat to children, and schools may play a critical role in community outbreaks. Mathematical outbreak models require assumptions about contact rates and patterns among students, but the level of temporal granularity required to produce reliable results is unclear. We collected objective contact data from students aged 5-14 at an elementary school and middle school in the state of Utah, USA, and paired those data with a novel, data-based model of influenza transmission in schools. Our simulations produced within-school transmission averages consistent with published estimates. We compared simulated outbreaks over the full resolution dynamic network with simulations on networks with averaged representations of contact timing and duration. For both schools, averaging the timing of contacts over one or two school days caused average outbreak sizes to increase by 1-8%. Averaging both contact timing and pairwise contact durations caused average outbreak sizes to increase by 10% at the middle school and 72% at the elementary school. Averaging contact durations separately across within-class and between-class contacts reduced the increase for the elementary school to 5%. Thus, the effect of ignoring details about contact timing and duration in school contact networks on outbreak size modelling can vary across different schools.

SUBMITTER: Toth DJ

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4528592 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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The role of heterogeneity in contact timing and duration in network models of influenza spread in schools.

Toth Damon J A DJ Leecaster Molly M Pettey Warren B P WB Gundlapalli Adi V AV Gao Hongjiang H Rainey Jeanette J JJ Uzicanin Amra A Samore Matthew H MH

Journal of the Royal Society, Interface 20150701 108

Influenza poses a significant health threat to children, and schools may play a critical role in community outbreaks. Mathematical outbreak models require assumptions about contact rates and patterns among students, but the level of temporal granularity required to produce reliable results is unclear. We collected objective contact data from students aged 5-14 at an elementary school and middle school in the state of Utah, USA, and paired those data with a novel, data-based model of influenza tr ...[more]

PMID: 26063821

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Project description:BackgroundInfluenza is a viral infection that primarily spreads via fluid droplets from an infected person's coughs and sneezes to others nearby. Social contact networks and the way people interact within them are thus important to its spread. We developed a method to characterize the social contact network for the potential transmission of influenza and then applied the method to school aged children and teenagers.MethodsSurveys were administered to students in an elementary, middle and high-school in the United States. The social contact network of a person was conceptualized as a set of groups to which they belong (e.g., households, classes, clubs) each composed of a sub-network of primary links representing the individuals within each group that they contact. The size of the group, number of primary links, time spent in the group, and level of contact along each primary link (near, talking, touching, or kissing) were characterized. Public activities done by groups venturing into the community where random contacts occur (e.g., friends viewing a movie) also were characterized.ResultsStudents, groups and public activities were highly heterogeneous. Groups with high potential for the transmission of influenza were households, school classes, friends, and sports; households decreased and friends and sports increased in importance with grade level. Individual public activity events (such as dances) were also important but lost their importance when averaged over time. Random contacts, primarily in school passing periods, were numerous but had much lower transmission potential compared to those with primary links within groups. Students are highly assortative, interacting mainly within age class. A small number of individual students are identified as likely "super-spreaders".ConclusionHigh-school students may form the local transmission backbone of the next pandemic. Closing schools and keeping students at home during a pandemic would remove the transmission potential within these ages and could be effective at thwarting its spread within a community. Social contact networks characterized as groups and public activities with the time, level of contact and primary links within each, yields a comprehensive view, which if extended to all ages, would allow design of effective community containment for pandemic influenza.

Project description:Study objectivesChronic sleep restriction is prevalent in the U.S. population and associated with increased morbidity and mortality. The primary reasons for reduced sleep are unknown. Using population data on time use, we sought to identify individual characteristics and behaviors associated with short sleep that could be targeted for intervention programs.DesignAnalysis of the American Time Use Survey (ATUS).SettingCross-sectional annual survey conducted by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.ParticipantsRepresentative cohort (N = 124,517) of Americans 15 years and older surveyed between 2003 and 2011.InterventionsNone.Measurements and resultsTelephone survey of activities over 24 hours. Relative to all other waking activities, paid work time was the primary waking activity exchanged for sleep. Time spent traveling, which included commuting to/ from work, and immediate pre- and post-sleep activities (socializing, grooming, watching TV) were also reciprocally related to sleep duration. With every hour that work or educational training started later in the morning, sleep time increased by approximately 20 minutes. Working multiple jobs was associated with the highest odds for sleeping ≤6 hours on weekdays (adjusted OR 1.61, 95% CI 1.44; 1.81). Self-employed respondents were less likely to be short sleepers compared to private sector employees (OR 0.83, 95% CI 0.72; 0.95). Sociodemographic characteristics associated with paid work (age 25-64, male sex, high income, and employment per se) were consistently associated with short sleep.ConclusionsU.S. population time use survey findings suggest that interventions to increase sleep time should concentrate on delaying the morning start time of work and educational activities (or making them more flexible), increasing sleep opportunities, and shortening morning and evening commute times. Reducing the need for multiple jobs may increase sleep time, but economic disincentives from working fewer hours will need to be offset. Raising awareness of the importance of sufficient sleep for health and safety may be necessary to positively influence discretionary behaviors that reduce sleep time, including television viewing and morning grooming.

Dataset Information

The role of heterogeneity in contact timing and duration in network models of influenza spread in schools.

Publications

The role of heterogeneity in contact timing and duration in network models of influenza spread in schools.

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