FRIDAY, Feb. 23, 2024 (HealthDay News) -- Maternal booster COVID-19 vaccination protects infants from infection in the first six months of life, according to a study published online Feb. 9 in Pediatrics.

Cristina V. Cardemil, M.D., M.P.H., from the National Institutes of Health in Rockville, Maryland, and colleagues quantified protection against infection from maternally derived vaccine-induced antibodies in the first six months of an infant's life. Full-length spike (Spike) immunoglobulin G (IgG), pseudovirus 614D, and live virus D614G and omicron BA.1 and BA.5 neutralizing antibody (nAb) titers were measured at delivery among infants born to mothers vaccinated during pregnancy with two or three doses of a messenger RNA COVID-19 vaccine.

The researchers found that Spike IgG, pseudovirus, and live nAb titers were significantly higher at delivery for 204 infants of boosted mothers than for 271 infants of nonboosted mothers; infants of boosted mothers were 56 percent less likely to acquire infection in the first six months. The infant's risk for acquiring infection was reduced by 47 percent for each 10-fold increase in Spike IgG titer at delivery, irrespective of boost. Risk reductions of 30, 46, 56, and 60 percent were seen in association with 10-fold increases in pseudovirus titers against Wuhan Spike, live virus nAb titers against D614G, and omicron BA.1 and BA.5 at delivery, respectively.

"We show that a monovalent booster dose during pregnancy leads to higher binding and nAb titers at delivery that are effective against omicron, for an age group that has the highest COVID-19-associated hospitalization rate in pediatrics since the emergence and ubiquitous spread of omicron variants," the authors write.

Several authors disclosed ties to the pharmaceutical industry.

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THURSDAY, Feb. 22, 2024 (HealthDay News) -- Human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination rates did not increase from 2019 to 2022, according to a study published online Feb. 20 in JAMA Network Open.

Kalyani Sonawane, Ph.D., from the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston, and colleagues analyzed data for U.S. participants aged 18 to 26 years from the 2018, 2019, and 2022 National Health Interview Survey to examine HPV vaccination coverage during the pandemic.

In 2022, 2,159 adults aged 18 to 26 years with HPV vaccination information were identified. The researchers found that 47.4 percent of these adults reported receiving one or more vaccine doses. The HPV vaccination rate increased from 2018 to 2019 (39.9 to 47.0 percent), but no significant change was seen for 2019 to 2022. More women than men were vaccinated in 2022 (57.2 versus 37.3 percent). In 2022, coverage was similar for Hispanics, non-Hispanic Blacks, and participants of other races and ethnicities compared with non-Hispanic Whites. Higher coverage was seen for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and other sexual orientation groups versus heterosexual women (70.6 versus 53.6 percent) and for gay, bisexual, and other sexual orientation versus heterosexual men (52.7 versus 36.2 percent). Uninsured men and women had lower coverage than their insured counterparts.

"Human papillomavirus vaccination coverage among young adults did not increase during the COVID-19 pandemic compared with prior years," the authors write. "This finding likely reflects pandemic-related disruptions in initiating the HPV vaccine among young adults."

Two authors disclosed ties to Value Analytics Labs; one disclosed ties to Merck.

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THURSDAY, Feb. 22, 2024 (HealthDay News) -- Traffic-related fine particulate matter (PM2.5) affects the Consortium to Establish a Registry for Alzheimer's Disease (CERAD) score, according to a study published online Feb. 21 in Neurology.

Grace M. Christensen, Ph.D., from the Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta, and colleagues conducted a cross-sectional study using 224 brain tissue donors who died before 2020. Alzheimer disease (AD) pathology was assessed among donors using the Braak stage, CERAD score, and combined AD neuropathologic change (ABC) score. The association between traffic-related PM2.5 (based on measurements of one-, three-, and five-year average PM2.5 concentrations before death matched to home addresses) and AD hallmark pathology was examined.

Of the participants, 57 percent had at least one APOE ε4 copy. The researchers observed a significant association for traffic-related PM2.5 with the CERAD score for the one- and three-year exposure windows (odds ratios, 1.92 and 1.87, respectively). Nonsignificant associations were seen for PM2.5 with Braak stage and ABC score. Those without APOE ε4 markers had the strongest associations between PM2.5 and neuropathology markers (e.g., odds ratio, 2.31 for the CERAD score and one-year exposure window); however, the interaction between PM2.5 and APOE genotype was not significant.

"Our study found traffic-related PM2.5 exposure was associated with the CERAD score at autopsy, contributing to a growing body of evidence that PM2.5 affects β-amyloid deposition in the brain," the authors write. "More research is needed to establish causality for the association between PM2.5 and AD, including epidemiologic and mechanistic studies."

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