Covid-19 Disease in Pediatric Emergency Room: The Dilemma of Cycle Threshold Value

Abstract

BACKGROUND: The havoc of this SARS-CoV-2 pandemic was being distributed unequally. Children, of all ages, and in all countries, are being affected. Testing for infection with SARS-CoV-2, helps to determine what interventions may need to be put in place to control the spread of disease within a community. A PCR test for COVID-19 is a test used to diagnose children infected with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. Cycle threshold (Ct) is a semi-quantitative value that tells us approximately how much viral genetic material is in the sample following testing by RT-PCR. Our aim was to evaluate how RT-PCR Ct values among children with confirmed SARS-CoV-2 compared with clinical, laboratory and demographic data. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In the study, demographic, laboratory, radiological and clinical characteristics and the effect of Ct value of patients with positive Covid-19 PCR test who applied to the Emergency Pediatric Service with the suspicion of infectious disease between May 3,2020 and August 3, 2020 were retrospectively examined. RESULTS: There was no statistical significance between the patient's hospitalization status, admission symptoms other than fever, and laboratory parameters and the mean Ct value. It was determined that the mean Ct value of the patients who had symptoms at the time of admission to the hospital was statistically significantly lower. CONCLUSION: In this study, symptomatic patients had lower Ct than asymptomatic patients; this reflects the clinical impact of increased viral load. In our study, the low Ct values in symptomatic patients and higher values in asymptomatic patients; reflects the importance of the effect on the clinic with the increase of viral load. In evidence-based medicine practices, it will be useful to check the compatibility of complaints and findings with laboratory data while evaluating patients. In addition, if the patient is symptomatic and has a high ct value, co-infections should be considered. Keywords: Children, COVID-19, Cycle Threshold, RT-PCR, pandemic