To date, COVID-19 has mutated into several types or variants. The variants of this virus, Delta and Omicron, become noticable and spread in all ages including children worldwide. Therefore, it is necessary to recognize the characteristics of these two variants in children. This study aimed to determine the characteristics of COVID-19 Delta and Omicron variants in children. This was a literature review study, performed by using PubMed, Google Scholar and ClinicalKey databases. The results obtained 12 literatures about the characteristics of the Delta and Omicron variants in children based on age, sex, clinical manifestations, and hospitalization. The Delta variant was most found in ages >5 years, male, had clinical manifestations of common symptoms associated with impaired olfactory and taste functions, and hospitalization of 2-5 days. Meanwhile, the Omicron variant was most found in ages <5 years, male, clinical manifestations of common symptoms associated with convulsion and wheezing, and hospitalization of 1-2 days. In conclusion, the age, clinical manifestations and hospitalization characteristics of the two variants are different except for sex characteristic.
Keywords: characteristics of pediatric patients; COVID-19; Delta variant; Omicron variant; children
Abstrak: COVID-19 telah bermutasi menjadi beberapa jenis atau varian. Varian dari virus ini muncul dan menyebar pada semua kalangan termasuk anak di seluruh dunia; varian tersebut diantaranya varian Delta dan varian Omicron. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui karakteristik COVID-19 varian Delta dan varian Omicron pada anak. Jenis penelitian ialah literature review. Pencarian literatur dilakukan dengan menggunakan basis data PubMed, Google Scholar dan ClinicalKey. Hasil penelitian mendapatkan, 12 literatur yang meneliti karakteristik COVID-19 varian Delta dan varian Omicron pada anak berdasarkan karakteristik usia, jenis kelamin, manifestasi klinis, dan rawat inap. Varian Delta didapatkan tersering pada usia >5 tahun, jenis kelamin laki-laki, dengan manifestasi klinik berupa gejala umum serta gangguan fungsi indra penciuman dan pengecapan, dan lama rawat inap 2-5 hari. Varian Omicron didapatkan tersering pada usia <5 tahun, jenis kelamin laki-laki, dengan dengan manifestasi klinik berupa gejala umum serta kejang dan mengi, dan lama rawat inap 1-2 hari. Simpulan penelitian ini ialah karakteristik usia, manifestasi klinis dan rawat inap dari kedua varian berbeda kecuali karakteristik jenis kelamin.
Kata kunci: karakteristik pasien anak; COVID-19; varian Delta; varian Omicron