Risk factors for SARS-CoV-2 infection and hospitalisation in children and adolescents in Norway: A nationwide population-based study

Abstract

Objective: To determine risk factors for SARS-CoV-2 infection and hospitalisation among children and adolescents. Design: Nationwide, population-based cohort study. Setting: Norway from 1 March 2020 to 31 April 2021. Participants: All Norwegian residents <18 years of age. Main outcome measures: Population-based health care and population registries were used to study risk factors for SARS-CoV-2 infection, including socioeconomic factors, country of origin, and pre-existing chronic comorbidities. All residents were followed until age 18, emigration, death, or end of follow-up. Hazard ratios (HR) estimated by Cox regression models were adjusted for testing frequency. Further, risk factors for admission to the hospital among the infected were investigated. Results: Of 1 182 796 residents, 22608 (1.9%) tested positive by polymerase chain reaction or lateral flow tests, of whom 107 (0.5%) were admitted to a hospital. Low family income (aHR 1.40, 95% confidence interval 1.36 to 1.46), crowded housing (1.35, 1.30 to 1.39), household size, age, and area of living were independent risk factors for infection. A non-Nordic country of origin was the strongest risk factor (aHR 2.37, 95% CI 2.30 to 2.49), whereas chronic comorbidity was not associated with the risk of infection. Chronic comorbidity was associated with hospitalisation (aHR 4.15, 2.63 to 6.56), in addition to age, whereas socioeconomic status and country of origin did not predict hospitalisation among those infected. Conclusions: Socioeconomic factors, country of origin, and area of living were associated with the risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection. However, these factors did not predict hospitalisation among those infected. Chronic comorbidity was associated with the risk of admission but not with the overall risk of acquiring SARS-CoV-2.

COVID-19 and monkeypox co-infection: A rapid systematic review

“…Our findings indicated that although all the included three cases with the co-infection were hospitalized, none of them developed severe outcomes and were discharged after a good recovery. Accordingly, these findings showed that patients having COVID-19 and MPV co-infection might not develop severe outcomes since all the included patients also had multiple comorbid conditions, which were previously reported as significant risk factors for developing severe COVID-19 outcomes ( 2 ). To our knowledge, COVID-19 infection presents usually with fever, cough, fever and smell and tasting disorders.…”

“…COVID-19 still constitutes a remarkable burden on countries and their healthcare systems even with the remarkable advances in the vaccine industry. COVID-19 patients are liable to various complications, and those with co-morbidities and associated infections are usually the most vulnerable ( 1 , 2 ). Recently, a multi-country outbreak of monkeypox virus (MPV) occurred and the World Health Organization declared it a Public Health Emergency of International Concern.…”

Air pollution might affect the clinical course of COVID-19 in pediatric patients

“…However, studies show that other air pollutants, i.e., nitrogen oxides and ozone, may also affect the COVID-19 severity and mortality ( Mele et al, 2021 , Khorsandi et al, 2021 , Achebak et al, 2021 ). One should also note that the present investigation did not include the potential differences in socioeconomic factors, health behaviors (e.g., physical activity) and presence of comorbidities (e.g., chronic lung disease, diabetes, heart disease, immune deficiencies, seizure disorders, obesity,) that may affect the susceptibility of children to COVID-19 ( Choi et al, 2022 , Størdal et al, 2022 ). Moreover, the patient data were collected over 17 months, during which various SARS-CoV-2 variants emerged and dominated ( Hryhorowicz et al, 2021 , Jabłońska et al, 2021 ).…”