ABSTRACT
Despite the low incidence, low mortality and relatively mild symptoms of COVID-19 in children, there has been a rise in pediatric patients who develop a condition resembling Kawasaki disease after COVID-19 or contact with individuals infected with SARS-CoV-2. This condition is known as the pediatric inflammatory multisystem syndrome temporally associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection (PIMS-TS). This review introduces the reader to the hypotheses of PIMS-TS pathogenesis, provides information about its diagnosis and treatment, presents clinical and laboratory data and describes treatments strategies used in children and adolescents hospitalized to the intensive care unit of the Pediatric Research and Clinical Center for Infectious Diseases. Besides, the review outlines the main diagnostic and prognostic challenges of PIMS-TS.Copyright © Extreme Medicine.All right reserved.
ABSTRACT
The relevance of research on a novel coronavirus infection is associated with an increase in the incidence among children since 2021, which may be due to the accumulation of mutations in the virus genome and its evolution towards increased contagiousness, replicative ability, and evasion of immune protection. While there are many studies in adults, data analyzing the clinical course of the disease in pediatric patients infected with SARS-CoV-2 are limited, particularly regarding adolescents. Objective. To study the clinical and laboratory features of the course of a novel coronavirus infection in hospitalized adolescents in Novosibirsk during the first, second and third waves of the pandemic. Materials and methods. A retrospective analysis of case histories of 125 children treated at Novosibirsk Children's Clinical Hospital No 6 with a confirmed diagnosis of coronavirus infection during three pandemic waves was carried out (June- August 2020, October-December 2020, June-August 2021). Based on these time intervals, three groups of adolescents admitted to the hospital during the first, second, and third waves of coronavirus infection were formed. SARS-CoV-2 RNA in nasopharyngeal and oropharyngeal scrapings was determined using the PCR-RT method. Biochemical and general clinical studies were performed in accordance with the guidelines of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation. Statistical processing was carried out using the Satistika 7.0 software package (StatSoft, USA). Differences between the groups were assessed using the Z-test and the Mann-Whitney U test. Differences between the compared series were considered statistically significant with a probability level of 95%. Results. It was shown that during three pandemic waves (June 2020 - August 2021), more than half of the hospitalized children were adolescents. At the same time, regardless of the pandemic wave, intoxication, catarrhal and intestinal syndromes predominated in hospitalized adolescents. CNS injury symptoms were significantly less frequent in the first wave, as were skin rashes. Cough in the third wave was observed in 100% of hospitalized adolescents. The average values of the parameters of complete blood count, as well as CRP, D-dimer and ferritin had no statistically significant differences in different pandemic waves, but there was a significant variation in individual values within the groups in each wave.Copyright © 2022, Dynasty Publishing House. All rights reserved.
ABSTRACT
The relevance of research on a novel coronavirus infection is associated with an increase in the incidence among children since 2021, which may be due to the accumulation of mutations in the virus genome and its evolution towards increased contagiousness, replicative ability, and evasion of immune protection. While there are many studies in adults, data analyzing the clinical course of the disease in pediatric patients infected with SARS-CoV-2 are limited, particularly regarding adolescents. Objective. To study the clinical and laboratory features of the course of a novel coronavirus infection in hospitalized adolescents in Novosibirsk during the first, second and third waves of the pandemic. Materials and methods. A retrospective analysis of case histories of 125 children treated at Novosibirsk Children's Clinical Hospital No 6 with a confirmed diagnosis of coronavirus infection during three pandemic waves was carried out (June- August 2020, October-December 2020, June-August 2021). Based on these time intervals, three groups of adolescents admitted to the hospital during the first, second, and third waves of coronavirus infection were formed. SARS-CoV-2 RNA in nasopharyngeal and oropharyngeal scrapings was determined using the PCR-RT method. Biochemical and general clinical studies were performed in accordance with the guidelines of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation. Statistical processing was carried out using the Satistika 7.0 software package (StatSoft, USA). Differences between the groups were assessed using the Z-test and the Mann-Whitney U test. Differences between the compared series were considered statistically significant with a probability level of 95%. Results. It was shown that during three pandemic waves (June 2020 - August 2021), more than half of the hospitalized children were adolescents. At the same time, regardless of the pandemic wave, intoxication, catarrhal and intestinal syndromes predominated in hospitalized adolescents. CNS injury symptoms were significantly less frequent in the first wave, as were skin rashes. Cough in the third wave was observed in 100% of hospitalized adolescents. The average values of the parameters of complete blood count, as well as CRP, D-dimer and ferritin had no statistically significant differences in different pandemic waves, but there was a significant variation in individual values within the groups in each wave.Copyright © 2022, Dynasty Publishing House. All rights reserved.
ABSTRACT
The relevance of research on a novel coronavirus infection is associated with an increase in the incidence among children since 2021, which may be due to the accumulation of mutations in the virus genome and its evolution towards increased contagiousness, replicative ability, and evasion of immune protection. While there are many studies in adults, data analyzing the clinical course of the disease in pediatric patients infected with SARS-CoV-2 are limited, particularly regarding adolescents. Objective. To study the clinical and laboratory features of the course of a novel coronavirus infection in hospitalized adolescents in Novosibirsk during the first, second and third waves of the pandemic. Materials and methods. A retrospective analysis of case histories of 125 children treated at Novosibirsk Children's Clinical Hospital No 6 with a confirmed diagnosis of coronavirus infection during three pandemic waves was carried out (June- August 2020, October-December 2020, June-August 2021). Based on these time intervals, three groups of adolescents admitted to the hospital during the first, second, and third waves of coronavirus infection were formed. SARS-CoV-2 RNA in nasopharyngeal and oropharyngeal scrapings was determined using the PCR-RT method. Biochemical and general clinical studies were performed in accordance with the guidelines of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation. Statistical processing was carried out using the Satistika 7.0 software package (StatSoft, USA). Differences between the groups were assessed using the Z-test and the Mann-Whitney U test. Differences between the compared series were considered statistically significant with a probability level of 95%. Results. It was shown that during three pandemic waves (June 2020 - August 2021), more than half of the hospitalized children were adolescents. At the same time, regardless of the pandemic wave, intoxication, catarrhal and intestinal syndromes predominated in hospitalized adolescents. CNS injury symptoms were significantly less frequent in the first wave, as were skin rashes. Cough in the third wave was observed in 100% of hospitalized adolescents. The average values of the parameters of complete blood count, as well as CRP, D-dimer and ferritin had no statistically significant differences in different pandemic waves, but there was a significant variation in individual values within the groups in each wave.Copyright © 2022, Dynasty Publishing House. All rights reserved.
ABSTRACT
Objective: To evaluate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the epidemiological features of substances of abuse poisoning in adolescents. Methods: We performed a comparative analysis of all adolescents diagnosed with substances of abuse poisoning during two periods of 20 months each: one before and the other after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. We analyzed the medical records (T40 ICD -10-CM code) taking into consideration the following criteria: age, gender, environment, incriminated substance from the case history and urinary toxicological screening tests, route of exposure, hospitalization period, chronic consumption in antecedents. The patients were divided into two samples: Sample 1 patients before the COVID-19 pandemic onset (September 2018-February 2020) and Sample 2 patients after the onset of the pandemic (March 2020-September 2021). Results: The analysis of the two samples revealed that there were significantly fewer patients with substances of abuse acute poisoning admitted after the COVID-19 pandemic onset (56 versus 106). Analyzing the data regarding age, gender, environment, route and length of hospitalization, there were no statistically significant differences between the two groups of patients (Table 1). The percentage for cannabis is quite similar in both categories while for new psychoactive substances and benzodiazepines it is higher in the second sample. The percentage of chronic consumers was significantly higher in sample 2 compared to sample 1 (66.7% versus 50.9%). Conclusion: There were significantly fewer hospitalized adolescents with substances of abuse poisoning during the pandemic period. The percentage of poisoned patients that were chronic consumers of substances of abuse was higher during the pandemic. The COVID-19 pandemic did not influence the popularity of cannabis which was the most commonly used substance in both sample groups.
ABSTRACT
Purpose of Study The COVID-19 pandemic began affecting the United States in early 2020 with many cities instating stay-at-home orders to prevent spread of infection. Some literature has suggested that sexually transmitted infection rates including gonorrhea, chlamydia, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), and syphilis have declined during the COVID-19 pandemic due to these stay-at-home orders and school closures. However, sexually transmitted infection data during the COVID-19 pandemic in adolescent children is limited. We conducted this study to determine whether sexually transmitted infection rates in hospitalized adolescents in our institution changed during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods Used This study utilized a retrospective chart review of patients ages 14 to 18 years who were admitted to our urban tertiary care hospital both before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition to age, demographic data such as gender, race, and zip code were collected. For each patient, whether or not a patient had a sexual history documented was recorded. Additionally, results of an opt-out infection screen for gonorrhea, chlamydia, HIV, and syphilis were documented. Monthly sexually transmitted infection rates were calculated from January 2019 - February 2020 and March - December 2020 in order to compare the rates prior to and during the COVID-19 pandemic. The McNemar's test was also used to compare adolescent sexually transmitted infection rates before and during COVID. Summary of Results There were 321 adolescent patients ages 14-18 years who were screened for a sexually transmitted infection between January 2019 and December 2020 with 52 patients testing positive for one or more sexually transmitted infections. Prior to the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the average monthly sexually transmitted infection rate was 18%. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the average monthly sexually transmitted infection rate was 18.4%. There was no decrease in the sexually transmitted infection rate in the adolescent patient population during the COVID-19 pandemic when compared to before the pandemic. Conclusions The study suggests that there was no decrease in the adolescent sexually transmitted infection rate in hospitalized adolescents in our urban tertiary care center during the COVID-19 pandemic. This data shows a trend that is not consistent with some previous research in this area, and may be related to several factors including inability to comply with stay-at-home orders due to social concerns, decreased adolescent supervision, and lack of structured activities due to virtual schooling and cancelation of extracurricular activities. This study underlines the importance of ongoing sexual health and STI screening in this population, especially as the COVID-19 pandemic continues and new surges may lead to similar social concerns. In the future, further research is needed to determine if the results are similar in the emergency department and outpatient settings as well.