Clinical and demographic profile of pediatric COVID-19 in a tertiary care teaching Hospital

Abstract

Background: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a disease that emerged from the global epicenter Wuhan, China in December 2019 caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-COV-2). Globally, there was an explosion of the outbreak of SARS-COV-2 infections, triggering a major health concern all over the world. By June 2020, the World Health Organization confirmed a total of approximately 9 million COVID-19 cases that included 477634 deaths (5.2%) in 216 countries. Materials and Methods: All COVID suspect children admitted in the pediatric ward were screened for SARS-CoV-2 by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction. Presenting between May 1, 2020 and August 31, 2020 and their demographic and clinical parameters were analyzed. Results: In the present study, out of 158 confirmed COVID-19 positive pediatric cases, history of high-risk contact was seen in 21 cases, history of international travel in 6 cases, history of residing in containment areas in 17 cases and co-existing disease was found in 3 cases. Fever was seen in 49 cases, cough in 21 cases, sore throat in 3 cases, shortness of breath in 6 cases, headache in 1 case, rhinorrhea in 7 cases, nausea/vomiting in 7 cases, abdominal pain in 4 cases, and diarrhea in 6 cases. Conclusion: The study highlighted that children are less vulnerable and at a lower risk of developing COVID-19 and when they contract the COVID-19 infection, they have a milder or asymptomatic disease than adults with few or minimum complications.