tetano
Editor, Senior Moderator
Pediatr Pulmonol
. 2021 Feb 25.
doi: 10.1002/ppul.25312. Online ahead of print.
COVID-19 under 19: A meta-analysis
Nagham Toba[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Shreya Gupta[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Abdulrahman Y Ali[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Mariam ElSaban[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Amar H Khamis[SUP] 1 2 [/SUP], Samuel B Ho[SUP] 1 3 [/SUP], Rizwana Popatia[SUP] 1 4 [/SUP]
Affiliations
Abstract
Background: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic continues to cause global havoc posing uncertainty to educational institutions worldwide. Understanding the clinical characteristics of COVID-19 in children is important because of the potential impact on clinical management and public health decisions.
Methods: A meta-analysis was conducted for pediatric COVID-19 studies using PubMed and Scopus. It reviewed demographics, co-morbidities, clinical manifestations, laboratory investigations, radiological investigations, treatment, and outcomes. The 95% confidence interval (CI) was utilized.
Results: Out of 3927 articles, 31 articles comprising of 1816 patients were selected from December 2019 to early October 2020 and were defined by 77 variables. Of these studies 58% originated from China and the remainder from North America, Europe and the Middle East. This meta-analysis revealed that 19.2% (CI 13.6%-26.4%) of patients were asymptomatic. Fever (57%, CI 49.7%-64%) and cough (44.1%, CI 38.3%-50.2%) were the most common symptoms. The most frequently encountered white blood count abnormalities were lymphopenia 13.5% (CI 8.2%-21.4%) and leukopenia 12.6% (CI 8.5%-18.3%). Ground glass opacities were the most common radiological finding of children with COVID-19 (35.5%, CI 28.9%-42.7%). Hospitalization rate was 96.3% (CI 92.4%-98.2%) of which 10.8% (CI 4.2%-25.3%) were ICU admissions, and 2.4% (CI 1.7%-3.4%) died.
Conclusion: The majority of pediatric patients with COVID-19 were asymptomatic or had mild manifestations. Among hospitalized patients there remains a significant number that require intensive care unit care. Overall across the literature, a considerable level of understanding of COVID-19 in children was reached, yet emerging data related to multisystemic inflammatory syndrome in children should be explored.
Keywords: COVID-19; SARS-CoV2; adolescents; children; clinical presentation; meta-analysis; pediatric.
. 2021 Feb 25.
doi: 10.1002/ppul.25312. Online ahead of print.
COVID-19 under 19: A meta-analysis
Nagham Toba[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Shreya Gupta[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Abdulrahman Y Ali[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Mariam ElSaban[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Amar H Khamis[SUP] 1 2 [/SUP], Samuel B Ho[SUP] 1 3 [/SUP], Rizwana Popatia[SUP] 1 4 [/SUP]
Affiliations
- PMID: 33631060
- DOI: 10.1002/ppul.25312
Abstract
Background: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic continues to cause global havoc posing uncertainty to educational institutions worldwide. Understanding the clinical characteristics of COVID-19 in children is important because of the potential impact on clinical management and public health decisions.
Methods: A meta-analysis was conducted for pediatric COVID-19 studies using PubMed and Scopus. It reviewed demographics, co-morbidities, clinical manifestations, laboratory investigations, radiological investigations, treatment, and outcomes. The 95% confidence interval (CI) was utilized.
Results: Out of 3927 articles, 31 articles comprising of 1816 patients were selected from December 2019 to early October 2020 and were defined by 77 variables. Of these studies 58% originated from China and the remainder from North America, Europe and the Middle East. This meta-analysis revealed that 19.2% (CI 13.6%-26.4%) of patients were asymptomatic. Fever (57%, CI 49.7%-64%) and cough (44.1%, CI 38.3%-50.2%) were the most common symptoms. The most frequently encountered white blood count abnormalities were lymphopenia 13.5% (CI 8.2%-21.4%) and leukopenia 12.6% (CI 8.5%-18.3%). Ground glass opacities were the most common radiological finding of children with COVID-19 (35.5%, CI 28.9%-42.7%). Hospitalization rate was 96.3% (CI 92.4%-98.2%) of which 10.8% (CI 4.2%-25.3%) were ICU admissions, and 2.4% (CI 1.7%-3.4%) died.
Conclusion: The majority of pediatric patients with COVID-19 were asymptomatic or had mild manifestations. Among hospitalized patients there remains a significant number that require intensive care unit care. Overall across the literature, a considerable level of understanding of COVID-19 in children was reached, yet emerging data related to multisystemic inflammatory syndrome in children should be explored.
Keywords: COVID-19; SARS-CoV2; adolescents; children; clinical presentation; meta-analysis; pediatric.