The epidemiology of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 in a pediatric healthcare network in the United States

Abstract

Background. Understanding the prevalence and clinical presentation of coronavirus disease 2019 in pediatric patients can help healthcare providers and systems prepare and respond to this emerging pandemic. Methods. This was a retrospective case series of patients tested for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARSCoV- 2) across a pediatric healthcare network, including clinical features and outcomes of those with positive test results. Results. Of 7256 unique children tested for SARS-CoV-2, 424 (5.8%) tested positive. Patients aged 18-21 years had the highest test positive rate (11.2%), while those aged 1-5 years had the lowest (3.9%). By race, 10.6% (226/2132) of black children tested positive vs 3.3% (117/3592) of white children. By indication for testing, 21.1% (371/1756) of patients with reported exposures or clinical symptoms tested positive vs 3.8% (53/1410) of those undergoing preprocedural or preadmission testing. Of 424 patients who tested positive for SARS-CoV-2, 182 (42.9%) had no comorbidities, 87 (20.5%) had asthma, and 55 (13.0%) were obese. Overall, 52.1% had cough, 51.2% fever, and 14.6% shortness of breath. Seventy-seven (18.2%) SARS-CoV-2-positive patients were hospitalized, of whom 24 (31.2%) required respiratory support. SARS-CoV-2-targeted antiviral therapy was given to 9 patients, and immunomodulatory therapy to 18 patients. Twelve (2.8%) SARS-CoV-2-positive patients required mechanical ventilation, and 2 patients required extracorporeal membrane oxygenation. Two patients died. Conclusions. In this large cohort of pediatric patients tested for SARS-CoV-2, the rate of infection was low but varied by testing indication. The majority of cases were mild and few children had critical illness.