tetano
Editor, Senior Moderator
World J Exp Med
. 2022 Mar 20;12(2):26-35.
doi: 10.5493/wjem.v12.i2.26.
Comparison between SARS-CoV-2 positive and negative pneumonia in children: A retrospective analysis at the beginning of the pandemic
Adil Zhamankulov[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Rafail Rozenson[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Marina Morenko[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Ulzhan Akhmetova[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Alina Tyo[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Dimitri Poddighe[SUP] 2 [/SUP]
Affiliations
Abstract
Background: Even though coronavirus 2019 disease (COVID-19) clinical course in children is much milder than in adults, pneumonia can occur in the pediatric population as well. Here, we reported a single-center pediatric case series of COVID-19 from Kazakhstan during the first wave of pandemic.
Aim: To analyze the main clinical and laboratory aspects in severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) positive and negative children diagnosed with pneumonia.
Methods: This is a retrospective analysis of 54 children, who were medically assessed as close contacts of COVID-19 adults in their family setting, between June and September 2020. These children were all hospitalized: We compared the clinical and laboratory characteristics of children affected with pneumonia in the presence (group 1) or absence (group 2) of SARS-CoV-2 infection.
Results: Overall, the main clinical manifestations at the admission were fever, cough, loss of appetite, fatigue/weakness, nasal congestion and/or rhinorrhea, and dyspnea. Based on the SARS-CoV-2 polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test, 24 positive children with pneumonia (group 1) and 20 negative children with pneumonia (group 2) were identified; 10 positive children did not show any radiological findings of pneumonia. No significant differences were found between the two pneumonia study groups for any clinical and laboratory parameters, except for C-reactive protein (CRP). Of course, both pneumonia groups showed increased CRP values; however, the COVID-19 pneumonia group 1 showed a significantly higher increase of CRP compared to group 2.
Conclusion: In our case series of children assessed for SARS-CoV-2 infection based on contact tracing, the acute inflammatory response and, in detail, CRP increase resulted to be more pronounced in COVID-19 children with pneumonia than in children with SARS-CoV-2-unrelated pneumonia. However, because of multiple limitations of this study, larger, controlled and more complete clinical studies are needed to verify this finding.
Keywords: C-reactive protein; Chest X-ray; Inflammatory parameters; Pediatric COVID-19; Pneumonia; SARS-CoV-2.
. 2022 Mar 20;12(2):26-35.
doi: 10.5493/wjem.v12.i2.26.
Comparison between SARS-CoV-2 positive and negative pneumonia in children: A retrospective analysis at the beginning of the pandemic
Adil Zhamankulov[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Rafail Rozenson[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Marina Morenko[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Ulzhan Akhmetova[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Alina Tyo[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Dimitri Poddighe[SUP] 2 [/SUP]
Affiliations
- PMID: 35433317
- PMCID: PMC8968470
- DOI: 10.5493/wjem.v12.i2.26
Abstract
Background: Even though coronavirus 2019 disease (COVID-19) clinical course in children is much milder than in adults, pneumonia can occur in the pediatric population as well. Here, we reported a single-center pediatric case series of COVID-19 from Kazakhstan during the first wave of pandemic.
Aim: To analyze the main clinical and laboratory aspects in severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) positive and negative children diagnosed with pneumonia.
Methods: This is a retrospective analysis of 54 children, who were medically assessed as close contacts of COVID-19 adults in their family setting, between June and September 2020. These children were all hospitalized: We compared the clinical and laboratory characteristics of children affected with pneumonia in the presence (group 1) or absence (group 2) of SARS-CoV-2 infection.
Results: Overall, the main clinical manifestations at the admission were fever, cough, loss of appetite, fatigue/weakness, nasal congestion and/or rhinorrhea, and dyspnea. Based on the SARS-CoV-2 polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test, 24 positive children with pneumonia (group 1) and 20 negative children with pneumonia (group 2) were identified; 10 positive children did not show any radiological findings of pneumonia. No significant differences were found between the two pneumonia study groups for any clinical and laboratory parameters, except for C-reactive protein (CRP). Of course, both pneumonia groups showed increased CRP values; however, the COVID-19 pneumonia group 1 showed a significantly higher increase of CRP compared to group 2.
Conclusion: In our case series of children assessed for SARS-CoV-2 infection based on contact tracing, the acute inflammatory response and, in detail, CRP increase resulted to be more pronounced in COVID-19 children with pneumonia than in children with SARS-CoV-2-unrelated pneumonia. However, because of multiple limitations of this study, larger, controlled and more complete clinical studies are needed to verify this finding.
Keywords: C-reactive protein; Chest X-ray; Inflammatory parameters; Pediatric COVID-19; Pneumonia; SARS-CoV-2.