Epidemiological and clinical features of Croatian children and adolescents with a PCR-confirmed coronavirus disease 2019: differences between the first and second epidemic wave.
Croat Med J
; 61(6): 491-500, 2020 Dec 31.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1012028
ABSTRACT
AIM:
To describe epidemiological and clinical features of Croatian children and adolescents with a polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-confirmed coronavirus disease 2019.METHODS:
Data on patients aged ≤19 years with a positive SARS-CoV-2 PCR test recorded in the period March 12-May 12 (first wave) and June 19-July 19, 2020 (second wave) were retrospectively analyzed. The periods were separated by several weeks with no incident cases.RESULTS:
We analyzed data on 289 children and adolescents (6.5% of all cases; incidence rate [IR]=3.54, 95% confidence interval [CI] 3.14-3.97/million person-days), 124 in the first wave (IR=2.27) and 165 in the second wave (IR=6.37) IRR second/first=2.71 (2.13-3.44). During the first wave, the incidence was highest in infants (IR=3.48), while during the second wave it progressively increased to IR = 7.37 in 15-19-year olds. Family members were the key epidemiological contacts (72.6% cases), particularly during the first wave (95.8% vs 56.3%). Overall, 41.3% patients were asymptomatic, 25.3% in the first and 52.6% in the second wave. Age 15-19 years (vs younger) was associated with a higher (RR = 1.26, 1.02-1.54) and infection in the second wave with a lower probability (RR=0.66, 0.53-0.81) of being symptomatic. The most common symptoms were fever, cough, and rhinorrhea. In children aged ≥7 years, headache, anosmia/ageusia, and sore throat were also recorded. Only one child suffered a severe disease. All but 18 (7.8%) children were treated only symptomatically, and all fully recovered.CONCLUSION:
A large proportion of SARS-CoV-2 PCR-positive children/adolescents were asymptomatic. The associated disease was predominantly mild, comparably so in the first and second pandemic wave.
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Asymptomatic Infections
/
COVID-19
Type of study:
Diagnostic study
/
Observational study
/
Prognostic study
Limits:
Adolescent
/
Adult
/
Child
/
Child, preschool
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Infant
/
Male
/
Infant, Newborn
/
Young adult
Country/Region as subject:
Europa
Language:
English
Journal:
Croat Med J
Journal subject:
Medicine
Year:
2020
Document Type:
Article
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