Clinical Profile of COVID-19 Illness in Children—Experience from a Tertiary Care Hospital

Abstract

Objective To detail clinical profile and outcome in children infected with SARS-CoV-2. Methods This retrospective study was undertaken at a tertiary care pediatric teaching hospital in Northern India. The data on clinical characteristics and outcome of children (< 18 y) with COVID-19 illness from April 2020–October 2020 were reviewed and analyzed. Results A total of 2919 children with suspected severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) illness were tested for novel COVID-19 virus in the flu emergency ( n = 1744), severe acute respiratory infection (SARI) ward ( n = 825), and non-COVID area ( n = 350) of the hospital. 8.73% (255/2919) children tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 infection. Of the 255 positive cases, 144 (56.47%) were managed on an outpatient basis and 100 (59 boys) required admission in COVID ward. The mortality rate of patients with SARS-CoV-2 was 11.4% (29/255). Majority of children admitted with COVID-19 had severe to critical illness due to the presence of malnutrition and underlying comorbidities. Conclusions Children of all age groups were susceptible to COVID-19 illness with a slight male preponderance. Amongst infected, two-third were asymptomatic or had mild symptoms that required outpatient management and home isolation. The adverse outcomes were more commonly seen in infants and children > 10 y of age with malnutrition and comorbid illness. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12098-021-03822-5.

Risk factors for disease severity and mortality of children with Covid-19: A study at a Vietnamese Children's hospital

“…The mortality rate will fluctuate across different studies depending on centers, research subjects and the method of sampling. As mentioned above, our hospital is a tertiary care center, admit patients who have symptoms or comorbidities, so the mortality rate in our study is relatively higher than in previous reports [ 8 , 12 , 20 ]. We also noted that the rate of leukocytosis was higher in the mortality group than in the survival group, the difference was statistically significant.…”

“…Besides, the signs and symptoms of COVID-19 in children are similar to those of other infectious or non-infectious diseases [ 7 ]. The lack of specificity of signs and symptoms and the significant proportion of asymptomatic infections make symptom-based screening for SARS-CoV-2 infection in children particularly difficult [ 7 , 8 ]. Although most children with COVID-19 have mild symptoms or no symptoms at all, some of them, especially children with underlying medical conditions, become severely ill needing hospitalization, intensive care, or ventilatory support [ 9 , 10 ].…”

Epidemiology, Clinical Profile, Intensive Care Needs and Outcome in Children with SARS-CoV-2 Infection Admitted to a Tertiary Hospital During the First and Second Waves of the COVID-19 Pandemic in India

“…The present cohort comprised of significantly younger children [median (IQR) 36 (6–84) mo], more so in the second wave as compared to most other studies [ 11 – 15 ]. This is in concordance with a large Indian registry-based observational study of 18,961 patients, which included all age groups.…”

Manifestaciones clínicas y diagnóstico de la enfermedad por Coronavirus 2019 en el paciente pediátrico.

“…Liguoro et al (7) , en cambio, notifican que la mortalidad global estimada fue del 0,08%. En contraste, también existen datos alarmantes como se observa en una investigación llevada a cabo en un hospital de atención terciaria en la India, donde Singh et al (8) , informan una tasa de mortalidad del 11,4% agravado por la desnutrición y comorbilidades subyacentes presentes en la mayoría de infantes ingresados con COVID-19. Como se ve, esta es una enfermedad infecciosa de rápida transmisibilidad que también afecta a la población infantil, con evidencia de cuadros clínicos asintomáticos, leves y graves.…”