Abstract
Detailed data on clinical presentations and outcomes of children with COVID-19 in Europe are still lacking. In this descriptive study, we report on 130 children with confirmed COVID-19 diagnosed by 28 centers (mostly hospitals), in 10 regions in Italy, during the first months of the pandemic. Among these, 67 (51.5%) had a relative with COVID-19 while 34 (26.2%) had comorbidities, with the most frequent being respiratory, cardiac, or neuromuscular chronic diseases. Overall, 98 (75.4%) had an asymptomatic or mild disease, 11 (8.5%) had moderate disease, 11 (8.5%) had a severe disease, and 9 (6.9%) had a critical presentation with infants below 6 months having significantly increased risk of critical disease severity (OR 5.6, 95% CI 1.3 to 29.1). Seventy-five (57.7%) children were hospitalized, 15 (11.5%) needed some respiratory support, and nine (6.9%) were treated in an intensive care unit. All recovered. Conclusion:This descriptive case series of children with COVID-19, mostly encompassing of cases enrolled at hospital level, suggest that COVID-19 may have a non-negligible rate of severe presentations in selected pediatric populations with a relatively high rates of comorbidities. More studies are needed to further understand the presentation and outcomes of children with COVID-19 in children with special needs.What is Known:• There is limited evidence on the clinical presentation and outcomes of children with COVID-19 in Europe, and almost no evidence on characteristics and risk factors of severe cases.What is New:• Among a case series of 130 children, mostly diagnosed at hospital level, and with a relatively high rate (26.2%) of comorbidities, about three-quarter had an asymptomatic or mild disease.• However, 57.7% were hospitalized, 11.5% needed some respiratory support, and 6.9% were treated in an intensive care unit. © 2020, The Author(s).
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 1315-1323 |
Number of pages | 9 |
Journal | Eur. J. Pediatr. |
Volume | 179 |
Issue number | 8 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2020 |
Keywords
- Adolescents
- Children
- COVID-19
- Italy
- alanine aminotransferase
- aspartate aminotransferase
- adolescent
- Article
- artificial ventilation
- assisted ventilation
- asymptomatic infection
- case study
- child
- child hospitalization
- chronic disease
- clinical feature
- clinical outcome
- cohort analysis
- comorbidity
- coronavirus disease 2019
- coughing
- diarrhea
- disease severity
- early diagnosis
- febrile convulsion
- female
- fever
- heart disease
- high risk infant
- human
- infant
- intensive care unit
- leg pain
- leukopenia
- lymphocytopenia
- major clinical study
- male
- multicenter study
- neuromuscular disease
- newborn
- noninvasive ventilation
- oxygen therapy
- pandemic
- pathological crying
- pediatric patient
- preschool child
- priority journal
- real time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction
- respiratory distress
- respiratory tract disease
- retrospective study
- rhinorrhea
- risk factor
- somnolence
- sore throat
- thorax pain
- thorax radiography
- vomiting
- Betacoronavirus
- Coronavirus infection
- isolation and purification
- laboratory technique
- procedures
- respiratory care
- treatment outcome
- virus pneumonia
- Adolescent
- Child
- Child, Preschool
- Clinical Laboratory Techniques
- Comorbidity
- Coronavirus Infections
- Female
- Humans
- Infant
- Infant, Newborn
- Male
- Pandemics
- Pneumonia, Viral
- Respiratory Therapy
- Retrospective Studies
- Risk Factors
- Treatment Outcome