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FRIDAY, Aug. 28, 2020 (HealthDay News) — Severe disease and death appear to be rare among children and young people hospitalized with laboratory-confirmed COVID-19, according to an observational study in the United Kingdom published online Aug. 27 in The BMJ<\/i>.<\/p>\n
Olivia V. Swann, M.B., Ch.B., from the University of Edinburgh in the United Kingdom, and colleagues conducted a prospective observational cohort study to characterize the clinical features of 651 children (<19 years) admitted to 138 hospitals with laboratory-confirmed severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2.<\/p>\n
The researchers found that patients’ median age was 4.6 years and 42 percent had one or more comorbidity. A systemic mucocutaneous-enteric cluster of symptoms was described, including symptoms for the World Health Organization multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children and adolescents temporarily related to COVID-19 (MIS-C). Eighteen percent of children were admitted to critical care, with associations noted for age younger than 1 month, age 10 to 14 years, and Black ethnicity in a multivariable analysis (odds ratios, 3.21, 3.23, and 2.82, respectively). Overall, 1 percent of patients died in the hospital; all had profound comorbidities. Eleven percent of children met the WHO MIS-C criteria; they were older and more likely to be non-White. Children with MIS-C were more likely to be admitted to critical care (73 versus 15 percent). Compared with children without MIS-C, those with MIS-C were also more likely to present with fatigue, headache, myalgia, sore throat, lymphadenopathy, and a low platelet count.<\/p>\n
“Our data confirm less severe COVID-19 in children and young people with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 infection than in adults,” the authors write. “In agreement with previous reports, we found older age and non-White ethnicity to be associated with MIS-C.”<\/p>\n
One author disclosed financial ties to Integrum Scientific.<\/p>\n
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