BACKGROUND The carriage prevalence of pneumococcus among community-dwelling older adults is not fully understood, especially in superaged societies. Our purpose was to elucidate the carriage prevalence of pneumococcus in the upper respiratory tract among Japanese community-dwelling adults aged ≥65 years. METHODS We conducted a cross-sectional study of generally healthy community-dwelling adults aged ≥65 years in Nagasaki city, Japan. Demographic and clinical data and nasopharyngeal, oropharyngeal and saliva samples were collected from February 21st, 2018, to December 17th, 2018. The specimens were tested by culture and molecular methods. RESULTS Among a total of 504 enrolled participants, none were positive for pneumococcus by culture, and 22 were positive by PCR. The overall carriage prevalence was 4.4% (95% CI: 2.8-6.5%). The prevalence was highest in saliva samples, followed by oropharyngeal and nasopharyngeal samples. No demographic characteristics were associated with carriage prevalence, including age (4.7% among participants aged 65-74 years and 4.1% among those 75 years and older). Among the pneumococcal-positive participants, 18.2% were PCV13-covered serotypes. CONCLUSIONS Our data suggest a low carriage prevalence of S. pneumoniae among community-dwelling older people in Japan.

中文翻译：

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在社区居住的老年人中肺炎球菌的携带率较低：日本的一项横断面研究。

背景技术在社区居住的老年人中，肺炎球菌的携带率尚未完全被理解，特别是在超龄社会中。我们的目的是阐明在≥65岁的日本居住社区的成年人中，肺炎球菌在上呼吸道的携带率。方法我们对日本长崎市年龄≥65岁的大体健康的社区居民进行了横断面研究。收集了2018年2月21日至2018年12月17日的人口统计和临床数据以及鼻咽，口咽和唾液样本。通过文化和分子方法对这些样本进行了测试。结果在总共504名参与者中，培养的肺炎球菌均无阳性，而PCR阳性的有22名。总体运输患病率为4.4％（95％CI：2.8-6.5％）。唾液样本中的患病率最高，其次是口咽和鼻咽样本。携带者的患病率与年龄无关（包括年龄（65-74岁的参与者为4.7％，75岁及以上的参与者为4.1％））。在肺炎球菌阳性参与者中，有18.2％是PCV13覆盖的血清型。结论我们的数据表明，日本社区居住的老年人中肺炎链球菌的携带率较低。