Abstract:Objective
To provide a comprehensive and systematic analysis of demographic characteristics, clinical symptoms, laboratory findings and imaging features of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) in pediatric patients.
Methods
A meta‐analysis was carried out to identify studies on COVID‐19 from December 25, 2019 to April 30, 2020.
Results
A total of 48 studies with 5829 pediatric patients were included. Children at all ages were at risk for COVID… Show more
“…Few studies addressed differences in symptom profiles by age among CYP. A large high-quality review by Cui et al 15 reported that proportions with fever and cough were similar in infants to those in older children, conclusions supported by a small lowquality review by Yasuhara et al 13 In contrast, in a small medium-quality review, Christophers et al 20 reported that fever appeared more common in older children (65%) than in infants (48%). Christophers et al 20 also reported that vomiting and diarrhoea occurred largely in those under 9 years, whereas Yasuhara et al 13 reported gastrointestinal symptoms to be more common in adolescents, although numbers were small and symptoms uncommon in all ages.…”
Section: Resultsmentioning
confidence: 98%
“…We included 18 reviews in our analysis. [11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28] Characteristics of the included reviews are shown in table 1; all are freely available online (see online supplemental appendix table 2). All reviews were in English.…”
ObjectiveTo undertake a systematic review of reviews of the prevalence of symptoms and signs of COVID-19 in those aged under 20 years.DesignNarrative systematic review of reviews. PubMed, medRxiv, Europe PMC and COVID-19 Living Evidence Database were searched on 9 October 2020.SettingAll settings, including hospitalised and community settings.PatientsChildren and young people (CYP) under age 20 years with laboratory-proven COVID-19.Study review, data extraction and qualityPotentially eligible articles were reviewed on title and abstract by one reviewer. Quality was assessed using the modified AMSTARS criteria and data were extracted from included studies by two reviewers.Main outcome measuresPrevalence of symptoms and signs of COVID-19.Results1325 studies were identified and 18 reviews were included. Eight were high quality, 7 medium and 3 low quality. All reviews were dominated by studies of hospitalised children. The proportion of asymptomatic CYP ranged from 14.6% to 42%. Fever and cough were the the most common symptoms; proportions with fever ranged from 46% to 64.2% and with cough from 32% to 55.9%. All other symptoms or signs including rhinorrhoea, sore throat, headache, fatigue/myalgia and gastrointestinal symptoms including diarrhoea and vomiting were infrequent, occurring in less than 10%–20%.ConclusionsFever and cough are the most common symptoms in CYP with COVID-19, with other symptoms infrequent. Further research on symptoms in community samples are needed to inform pragmatic identification and testing programmes for CYP.
“…Few studies addressed differences in symptom profiles by age among CYP. A large high-quality review by Cui et al 15 reported that proportions with fever and cough were similar in infants to those in older children, conclusions supported by a small lowquality review by Yasuhara et al 13 In contrast, in a small medium-quality review, Christophers et al 20 reported that fever appeared more common in older children (65%) than in infants (48%). Christophers et al 20 also reported that vomiting and diarrhoea occurred largely in those under 9 years, whereas Yasuhara et al 13 reported gastrointestinal symptoms to be more common in adolescents, although numbers were small and symptoms uncommon in all ages.…”
Section: Resultsmentioning
confidence: 98%
“…We included 18 reviews in our analysis. [11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28] Characteristics of the included reviews are shown in table 1; all are freely available online (see online supplemental appendix table 2). All reviews were in English.…”
ObjectiveTo undertake a systematic review of reviews of the prevalence of symptoms and signs of COVID-19 in those aged under 20 years.DesignNarrative systematic review of reviews. PubMed, medRxiv, Europe PMC and COVID-19 Living Evidence Database were searched on 9 October 2020.SettingAll settings, including hospitalised and community settings.PatientsChildren and young people (CYP) under age 20 years with laboratory-proven COVID-19.Study review, data extraction and qualityPotentially eligible articles were reviewed on title and abstract by one reviewer. Quality was assessed using the modified AMSTARS criteria and data were extracted from included studies by two reviewers.Main outcome measuresPrevalence of symptoms and signs of COVID-19.Results1325 studies were identified and 18 reviews were included. Eight were high quality, 7 medium and 3 low quality. All reviews were dominated by studies of hospitalised children. The proportion of asymptomatic CYP ranged from 14.6% to 42%. Fever and cough were the the most common symptoms; proportions with fever ranged from 46% to 64.2% and with cough from 32% to 55.9%. All other symptoms or signs including rhinorrhoea, sore throat, headache, fatigue/myalgia and gastrointestinal symptoms including diarrhoea and vomiting were infrequent, occurring in less than 10%–20%.ConclusionsFever and cough are the most common symptoms in CYP with COVID-19, with other symptoms infrequent. Further research on symptoms in community samples are needed to inform pragmatic identification and testing programmes for CYP.
“…As a direct consequence, most countries have decided to start their vaccination programs against SARS-CoV-2 with the elderly, alongside the healthcare personnel and high-risk individuals [ 37 ]. Children seem indeed fairly exempt from severe forms of COVID-19 illness [ 38 ], although there have been reports on cardiac abnormalities that should not be underestimated [ 39 ].…”
Welcome to a new decade and a new issue of the
Biomedical Journal
- casting a sorrowful look onto a year that will go down in history as a tombstone etched by the COVID-19 pandemic, but also a hopeful glance into the future, now that multiple vaccination programs against the SARS-CoV-2 virus have started. This issue is dedicated to the continuous effort by researchers all around the globe to understand and counter the pathogen, as well as to be better prepared for future threats. Therefore, we learn about the advantages of complex 3D cell culture models for studying host-virus interactions, and the disease course of COVID-19 in children. Moreover, we discover how neutralising monoclonal antibodies and peptide-based vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 are developed, and the therapeutic potentials of lopinavir/ritonavir, mesenchymal stem cells, as well as plant and algae extracts. Finally, we ponder over the lessons to be learnt from SARS-CoV and MERS, and hear about differences between different nucleotide-based SARS-CoV-2 detection methods.
“… A systematic review and meta-analysis of children with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) [ 1 ] Cui X, et al., J Med Virol 2020 Summary: The authors conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of articles reporting on pediatric cases of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) due to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection. This article focused on the clinical presentation of COVID-19, including demographic characteristics, disease severity, reported symptoms, laboratory findings and imaging results.…”
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