Croup is an acute upper respiratory disease primarily caused by the parainfluenza virus. Owing to inflammation and edema of the upper airways, children present with barky cough and stridor, and some may experience respiratory distress. We investigated children aged < 5 years with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) admitted to two hospitals in Seoul, South Korea, and observed a spike in croup cases during the omicron surge. Among the 569 children admitted from March 1, 2021 to February 25, 2022, 21 children (3.7%) had croup, and the proportion of croup cases was significantly higher during the omicron wave than that during the delta wave (12.4% vs. 1.2%,
P
< 0.001). With the immediate administration of corticosteroids and epinephrine via nebulizer, the symptoms improved rapidly. During the current omicron surge, careful monitoring of the symptoms of croup in young children is needed for the diagnosis of COVID-19 and its timely management.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.