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. 2016 Jun 28;11(6):e0158524.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0158524. eCollection 2016.

A Case-Control Study on the Risk Factors for Meningococcal Disease among Children in Greece

Christos Hadjichristodoulou  1 , George Mpalaouras  1 , Vasiliki Vasilopoulou  2 , Antonios Katsioulis  1 , George Rachiotis  1 , Kalliopi Theodoridou  2 , Georgia Tzanakaki  3 , Vassiliki Syriopoulou  2 , Maria Theodoridou  2
Affiliations

A Case-Control Study on the Risk Factors for Meningococcal Disease among Children in Greece

Christos Hadjichristodoulou et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

Purpose: The aim of this study was to identify environmental or genetic risk factors that are associated with invasive meningococcal disease (IMD) in children in Greece.

Methods: A case-control study was performed in 133 children (44 cases and 89 controls) aged between 0-14 years, who were hospitalized in a children's hospital in Athens. Demographics and possible risk factors were collected by the use of a structured questionnaire. To investigate the association of mannose binding lectin (MBL) with IMD, a frequency analysis of the haplotypes of the MBL2 gene and quantitative measurement of MBL serum protein levels were performed using Nanogen NanoChipR 400 technology and immuno-enzyme techniques, respectively.

Results: The multivariate analysis revealed that changes in a child's life setting (relocation or vacation, OR = 7.16), paternal smoking (OR = 4.51), upper respiratory tract infection within the previous month (OR = 3.04) and the density of people in the house/100m2 (OR = 3.16), were independent risk factors associated with IMD. Overall 18.8% of patients had a MBL2 genotype with low functionality compared to 10.1% of healthy controls, but this was not statistically significant (p = 0.189).

Conclusion: Prevention strategies aimed at reducing parental smoking and other risk factors identified in this study could decrease the risk of IMD among children in Greece.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

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