Multicentre Italian study of SARS-CoV-2 infection in children and adolescents, preliminary data as at 10 April 2020

Abstract

Data on features of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in children and adolescents are scarce. We report preliminary results of an Italian multicentre study comprising 168 laboratory-confirmed paediatric cases (median: 2.3 years, range: 1 day–17.7 years, 55.9% males), of which 67.9% were hospitalised and 19.6% had comorbidities. Fever was the most common symptom, gastrointestinal manifestations were frequent; two children required intensive care, five had seizures, 49 received experimental treatments and all recovered.

Comparison of Clinical Features of COVID-19 vs Seasonal Influenza A and B in US Children

“…Among those hospitalized with COVID-19, patients exhibited clinical symptoms that were similar to those reported in previous studies, including 76% reporting fever and 48% reporting cough. 17 , 18 About one-quarter of patients hospitalized with COVID-19 reported shortness of breath, diarrhea or vomiting, and body ache or myalgia.…”

Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the characteristics of paediatric emergency room visits in a tertiary centre in Northern Italy

“…[10][11][12] Indeed, the population had become quickly aware that respiratory symptoms and fever could be warning signs for possible COVID-19, thus prompting caregivers to seek PED consultation for their children, despite the opposite recommendation by the national health service to stay at home and the low involvement of the paediatric age. [13][14][15][16] Conversely, PED visits for gastroenteritis showed a signi cantly fall in the COVID-19 period, probably because gastrointestinal symptoms were not known yet as a possible manifestation of COVID-19 by caregivers, particularly in the rst weeks of the outbreak.…”

Gastrointestinal symptoms and fecal nucleic acid testing of children with coronavirus disease 2019: a systematic review and meta-analysis

“…Out of 41 patients in Spain, two had gastroenteritis or vomiting 2 (5%). Out of 168 patients in Italian,Diarrhoea22 13.1% ,Vomiting9 5.44% 50 .When analyzing by country (studies from China versus studies from other countries), the pooled prevalence of diarrhea in studies from countries other than China was much lower at 18.2% (95% Cl0.05 to 0.31). This is in comparison to studies from China where the prevalence was higher: 23.3% (95% CI 0.15 to 0.31) See Figure 3.In Wuhan patients, across 4 studies 9,11,12,18 including 205 patients,the pooled prevalence was much higher at 41.2% (95 % CI 0.15 to 0.68) as compared to areas outside Wuhan China 15.1%(95 % CI 0.075 to 0.227)See Figure 4.There are two studies 9,18 from Wuhan Children's Hospital and the data may overlap.…”

“…Figure 1 summarizes article retrieval and abstraction.using PRISMA guidelines.Most research data are concentrated in articles published by the Chinese. A total of 25 studies were included in the analysis, 8-30 50-51 18 of which described the gastrointestinal symptoms of patients (Table 1), including one by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) 8 in the United States and one in Italian 50 ,one in Spain. 20 A total of 843 patients were included in the study, 182 of whom had digestive tract symptoms, accounting for 21.1%(95%Cl=0.14-0.28) of patients See Figure 2.…”