The course of COVID-19 in pediatric patients – specific and non-specific clinical manifestations

Abstract

Introduction and Objective. COVID-19 caused by SARS-CoV 2 is a still serious danger. The disease which triggered off the COVID-19 pandemic and one of the biggest health crises in many years, began in the city of Wuhan, China, in 2019. The aim of this review is to distinguish most of the specific and non-specific manifestations of the disease among children. Review Methods. The literature review was based on different types of articles including reviews, meta-analyses, systemic reviews, and randomized controlled trials on PubMed, Web of Science, and Scopus databases. Key words featured COVID-19, MIS-C, SARS-CoV-2 manifestations, and specific, and non-specific manifestations of COVID-19. The literature search was performed until September 2023, and concerned only paediatric patients. Brief description of the state of knowledge. Research based on already published studies prevents the forming of firm conclusions. There are different symptoms of COVID-19 infection, some of them are typical, mild, and do not concern medical care units. There are also some non-specific manifestations, often related to multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C), which are more severe and sometimes demand involving intensive care units. Conclusions. A large group of infected children with asymptomatic or present mild symptoms of COVID-19. Nonspecific manifestations, such as cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, psychiatric, neurological, ophthalmic, dermatological, or rheumatological symptoms, can potentially be misleading and require more attention.