Open AccessCOVID-19 disease characteristics in different pediatric age groups
Author(s) -
Eda Kepenekli,
Nurhayat Yakut,
Zeynep Ergenç,
Ömer Aydıner,
Rabia Can Sarınoğlu,
Ayşegül Karahasan,
Elif Karakoç-Aydıner,
Aslı Memişoğlu,
Yasemin Gökdemir,
Ela Erdem Eralp,
Pınar Ergenekon,
Bülent Karadağ,
Kübra Gökçe Tezel,
Murat Aydın,
Betül Şenyürek,
Perran Boran
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
journal of infection in developing countries
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2036-6590
pISSN - 1972-2680
DOI - 10.3855/jidc.15353
Subject(s) - medicine , hydroxychloroquine , retrospective cohort study , chest pain , covid-19 , disease , pediatrics , infectious disease (medical specialty)
Little is known about the COVID-19 disease characteristics and differences between different pediatric age groups. This study aimed to investigate the disease characteristics according to age groups.
Methodology: We conducted a retrospective, single-center study of pediatric COVID-19 in a tertiary care hospital in Turkey. The patients were divided into three groups: 15 days-24 months old (Group 1), 25-144 months old (Group 2), and 145-210 months old (Group 3) according to age.
Results: A total of 139 pediatric patients with COVID-19 were examined. Twenty-nine patients (20.9%) were in Group 1, 52 (37.4%) were in Group 2, 58 (41.7%) were in Group 3. Thirty-nine patients (28.1%) were hospitalized. The most common symptoms were cough (55.4%) and fever (51.8%). The median chest X-ray (CXR) score of hospitalized patients was 1 (min 0-max 7), and the median CXR score of outpatients was 1 (min 0-max 6). Fever was significantly more frequent in Group 1, and chest pain was more frequent in Group 3. Group 1 had significantly higher WBC, lymphocyte, thrombocyte counts, AST, LDH, D-dimer, and Troponin T levels but lower hemoglobin, total protein, and albumin levels. The treatment included antibiotics, oseltamivir, hydroxychloroquine, and supportive therapy. Only one patient (0.7%) received non-invasive mechanical ventilatory support.
Conclusions: As we know the clinical course of COVID-19 in children is less severe than in adults. We also found significant differences in both clinical and laboratory findings between different pediatric age groups which supports the theory that disease pathogenesis is highly variable according to age.