Increased nutrition risk is associated with a prolonged negative conversion of viral RNA in children and adolescents with COVID‐19

Abstract

BackgroundThis study aimed to determine the factors affecting the time to negative conversion of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‐CoV‐2) in children and adolescents, with particular reference to nutrition risk assessment on admission.MethodsThis retrospective observational study was conducted in a sentinel hospital for novel coronavirus in Quanzhou, China. The study population comprised children and adolescents with COVID‐19 admitted to the isolation wards between March 25 and April 12, 2022. Based on the Screening Tool for the Assessment of Malnutrition in Paediatrics (STAMP), nutrition risk screening was performed within 24 h of admission. Univariate and multivariate analyses were used to identify independent factors for the time to negative viral RNA conversion.ResultsA total of 185 patients with confirmed COVID‐19 were included in this study. The median time to viral RNA conversion (from the first day of a positive nucleic acid test to the first day of consecutive negative results) was 15 days (IQR 12–18 days), ranging from 4 to 25 days. High nutrition risk (hazard ratio [HR]: 0.543, 95% CI: 0.334–0.881) and fever (HR: 0.663; 95% CI: 0.483–0.910) were independent factors influencing the negative conversion of SARS‐CoV‐2 RNA.ConclusionHigh nutrition risk and fever were independently associated with delayed viral clearance in children and adolescents with SARS‐CoV‐2 infection, so these factors should be considered during the treatment plans for infected children and adolescents.

Associations between genetic mutations in different SARS-CoV-2 strains and negative conversion time of viral RNA among imported cases in Hangzhou: A cross-sectional study

“…Previous studies mainly focused on identifying risk factors (such as high nutrition risk, fever, headache, older age, and chest tightness) for delayed viral RNA clearance in patients infected with SARS-CoV-2 ( Hu et al, 2020 ; Yang et al, 2023 ; Cai et al, 2023 ; Bennasrallah et al, 2021 ; Li et al, 2023 ). We conducted an in-depth analysis of the correlations of NCT with mutation types/frequencies in imported cases involving different SARS-CoV-2 strains.…”

Impact of Different Traditional Chinese Medicine Constitutions on the Clinical Outcomes of COVID-19 Patients Infected with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron Variant: A Retrospective Observational Study

“…The time taken for COVID-19 nucleic acid conversion is related to sex, age, vaccination status, 1–3 BMI, 2 chronic diseases, 24 , 25 presence of sore throat symptoms, 4 high nutrition risk 26 and plasma 25(OH)D levels. 27 In addition to the known risk factors, the results of this study suggest a novel factor: individuals with an unbalanced constitution have a prolonged duration of COVID-19 nucleic acid conversion to a negative status.…”

“…[7][8][9][10][11][12]22 Therefore, a balanced TCM constitution has important potential application value in preventing and alleviating clinical symptoms of COVID-19 patients and accelerating the negative nucleic acid transformation of COVID-19 patients. The time taken for COVID-19 nucleic acid conversion is related to sex, age, vaccination status, 1-3 BMI, 2 chronic diseases, 24,25 presence of sore throat symptoms, 4 high nutrition risk 26 and plasma 25(OH)D levels. 27 In addition to the known risk factors, the results of this study suggest a novel factor: individuals with an unbalanced constitution have a prolonged duration of COVID-19 nucleic acid conversion to a negative status.…”