COVID-19 in hospitalized Ethiopian children: characteristics and outcome profile.

Introduction: considering the number of people affected and the burden to the health care system due to the coronavirus pandemic, there is still a gap in understanding the disease better leaving a space for new evidence to be filled by researchers. This scarcity of evidence is observed especially among children with the virus. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the characteristics and outcome profile of children with COVID-19 admitted to Millennium COVID-19 Care Center in Ethiopia. Methods: a prospective cohort study was conducted among 90 children with COVID-19 who were admitted from June 23rd to September 17th, 2020. Data were summarized using frequency tables, mean ± standard deviation or median with inter quartile range values. A chi-square test/Fischer´s exact test was used to compare disease severity between groups. Results: the median age of the participants was 15 years and 57 were females. The most common reported route of disease transmission was through close contact with a diagnosed person (41/90). Only three had a history of pre-existing comorbid illness. One-third (31/90) had one or more symptoms at diagnosis, the most common being cough (20/90). Among the 90 patients, 59 were asymptomatic, 14 had mild disease and the rest 17 had moderate disease. Based on the chi-square/Fischer´s exact test result, no statistically significant difference was observed between the age groups and sex. Conclusion: pediatric patients seemed to have a milder disease presentation and a favorable outcome compared to other countries report and also the adult pattern observed in our country.

Predictors of death in severe COVID-19 patients at millennium COVID-19 care center in Ethiopia: a case-control study.

INTRODUCTION: as the number of new cases and death due to COVID-19 is increasing, understanding the characteristics of severe COVID-19 patients and identifying characteristics that lead to death is a key to make an informed decision. In Ethiopia, as of September 27th 2020, a total of 72,700 cases and 1165 deaths were reported. Therefore, the study aimed to assess the determinants of death in severe COVID-19 patients admitted to millennium COVID-19 care center in Ethiopia. METHODS: a case-control study of 147 severe COVID-19 patients (49 deaths and 98 discharged alive cases) was conducted from August to September 2020. A comparison of underlying characteristics between cases (death) and controls (alive) was assessed using a chi-square test and an independent t-test with a p-value of <0.05 considered as having a statistically significant difference. Multivariable binary logistic regression was used to identify predictors of severe COVID-19 outcome (alive vs death) where adjusted odds ratio (AOR), 95% confidence interval (CIs) for AOR, and P-values were used for testing significance and interpretation of results. RESULTS: having diabetes mellitus (AOR= 3.257, 95%CI=1.348,7.867, p-value <0.001), fever (AOR=0.328, 95%CI= 0.123,0.878, p-value=0.027) and shortness of breath (AOR=4.034, 95%CI=1.481,10.988, p-value=0.006) were found to be significant predictors of death in severe COVID-19 patients. CONCLUSION: the outcome of death in severe COVID-19 patients is found to be associated with exposures to being diabetic and having shortness of breath at admission. On the other hand, having a fever at admission was associated with a favorable outcome of being discharged alive.