Evaluation of Pediatric Patients with COVID-19 in a Turkish University Hospital

Abstract

Background: Although COVID-19 has a milder course in pediatric patients than in adults, it can have a severe and fatal course in children  with an underlying disease (UD). Aims: In this study, we aimed to evaluate the demographic, clinical, laboratory, and radiological  characteristics, treatment methods, and prognosis of pediatric patients diagnosed with COVID-19.

Patients and Methods: The files of patients aged 0–18 years diagnosed with COVID-19 were retrospectively evaluated. Clinically and radiologically suspicious cases were  accepted as confirmed cases if SARS-CoV-2 PCR positivity was found in nasopharyngeal swab samples. The severity of the disease was  defined as asymptomatic, mild, moderate, and severe according to clinical, laboratory, and radiological features.

Results: A total of 322  pediatric patients, 51.2% male and 48.8% female, were included in the study. The median age of the patients was 12.08 years (1 month–18  years). Of the 322 patients, 81 (25.1%) were asymptomatic. Disease severity was as follows: 218 were (67.7%) mild, 14 were  (4.3%) moderate, and 9 (2.7%) were severe. 35.7% of the patients were hospitalized. Six percent were admitted to the intensive care unit,  and three (0.93%) patients died. The mortality rate in patients with the UD was 3.3%.

Conclusion: In our study, we determined that the  disease had a more severe course in patients with initial procalcitonin, D-dimer, troponin increase, and thrombocytopenia. Although  COVID-19 has a mild course in children, this is unfortunately not true for children with an UD.