Cross-Sectional Survey on BNT162b2 mRNA COVID-19 Vaccine Serious Adverse Events in Children 5 to 11 Years of Age: A Monocentric Experience.

OBJECTIVE: Our aim was to evaluate the safety of COVID-19 vaccine in children resident in the Latina Local Health Authority. METHODS: We conducted a telephone survey among children aged 5-11 years receiving BNT162b2 mRNA COVID-19 vaccine between December 15 and 21. The main outcomes included the presence of allergic reactions or anaphylaxis, adverse events after 24-48 h, 7 and 20 days of taking the first and second doses of medications, and documented SARS-CoV-2 infection after vaccination. The information obtained was automatically linked to a spreadsheet and analyzed. RESULTS: 569 children were enrolled. The mean age was 114 ± 4.24 months; there were 251 males in the study. The vaccine showed a favorable safety profile; no anaphylaxis or serious adverse events were reported. The most common symptoms both after the first and second dose were injection site reactions, asthenia, and headache. Injection site reactions were more frequent after the first dose (p = 0.01), while systemic symptoms were more frequent after the second dose (p = 0.022). These symptoms were more frequent in patients with comorbidities (p = 0.0159). CONCLUSION: Our findings confirm the safety of COVID-19 vaccine in children younger 11 years and could be useful to promote its diffusion in pediatric ages in order to achieve "herd immunity" and prevent the virus's circulation.

Assessment of Cardio-Respiratory Function in Overweight and Obese Children Wearing Face Masks during the COVID-19 Pandemic.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate whether the use of a surgical and N95 mask for overweight and obese children was associated with respiratory distress. METHODS: We enrolled 15 healthy and 14 overweight or obese children. We performed two sessions: one wearing a surgical, the other an N95 mask. We tracked changes in partial pressure of end-tidal carbon dioxide (PETCO2), oxygen saturation (SaO2), pulse rate (PR), and respiratory rate (RR) during a 72 min test: 30 min without a mask, 30 min wearing a mask, and then during a 12 min walking test. RESULTS: In healthy children, there was no significant change in SaO2 and PETCO2 during the study; there was a significant increase in PR and RR after the walking test with both the masks. In overweight or obese children, there was no significant change in SaO2 during the study period; there was a significant increase in PETCO2 as fast as wearing the mask and an increase in PETCO2, PR, and RR after walking test. After the walking test, we showed a significant correlation between PETCO2 and body mass index. CONCLUSION: Overweight or Obese children who wear a mask are more prone to developing respiratory distress, which causes them to remove it frequently. In a crowded environment, they are at greater risk of infection. For this reason, it is desirable that they attend environments where everyone uses a mask.

Clinical picture and long-term symptoms of SARS-CoV-2 infection in an Italian pediatric population.

BACKGROUND: SARS-CoV-2 infection in the pediatric age group has a milder course than in adults, but in some cases even children may present with severe forms or develop long-term consequences. The aim of this study was to analyze the clinical features, long-term effects, lifestyle changes and psychological effects of SARS-CoV-2 infection in a pediatric sample of the Italian population. METHODS: We conducted a telephone survey among 3075 children infected with SARS-CoV-2 in the Latina Local Health Authority. Outcomes included: clinical features of infection, long-term symptoms, lifestyle changes and emotional symptoms during the illness. The information obtained was automatically linked to a spreadsheet and analyzed. RESULTS: One thousand four hundred thirteen children agreed to participate in the study; the mean age was 112.8 ± 21.9 months. Children were infected mainly inside familial clusters (59.6%; n = 842); 99% (n = 1399) of children were asymptomatic or exhibited mild symptoms. 20% (n = 259) of children experienced long-term symptoms; risk factors were: older age, higher body mass index and longer duration of infection. Throughout the period of infection, children spent most of the time on devices like tv-video, social media and mobile phone for non-educational activities. 58.8% (n = 620) of parents expressed a negative opinion about distance learning. Finally, we observed that 49,6% (n = 532) of children experienced psychological symptoms during quarantine period. CONCLUSION: Despite a lower susceptibility to COVID-19 in children, it is important to keep the focus high in children, both because of the possible long symptoms after infection and the impact on a children's mental and physical health due to pandemic. We believe that the return to school or other extracurricular activities are important to correct some of the risk factors for the long COVID syndrome, as obesity, and to limit the cultural damage generated by distance learning and psychological effects related to restrictive measures.

Assessment of respiratory function in children wearing a N95 mask with or without an exhalation valve: Data compared.

In response to the current COVID-19 pandemic, universal face masking represents one of the most important strategies to limit the spread of infection. However, their use in children is still highly debated (Esposito and Principi, 2020; Esposito et al., 2020) and there are few data (Lubrano et al., 2021a, 2021b) describing their possible effects on respiratory function in children. A dataset in this paper presents a comparison of the data related to the effects on respiratory function of children wearing a filtering facepiece 2 (N95 mask) with or without exhalation valve. 22 healthy children were randomly assigned to two groups, both groups wearing an N95 mask: one without an exhalation valve (group A), another with an exhalation valve (group B). Children were subjected to a 72 min test: the first 30 min without mask, then 30 min wearing face mask while practiced their usual play activity; finally, 12 min, with face mask in place, while they walked as in a walking test. They were monitored through to microstream capnography system (Rad-97TM with Nomo-Line Capnography, Masimo, Irvine, CA, USA) to log oxygen saturation (SpO2) and respiratory rate (RR). We use the Wilcoxon test to analyzed the differences between the parameters recorded during the study in group A and B. Data analysis was performed using JMP14.3.0 program for Mac by SAS Institute inc.