Epidemiological features of coronavirus disease 2019 in children: a meta-analysis.
Eur Rev Med Pharmacol Sci
; 25(2): 1146-1157, 2021 Jan.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1084469
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE:
Many studies have been published recently on the characteristics of the clinical manifestations of COVID-19 in children. The quality scores of literature are different, and the incidence of clinical manifestations and laboratory tests results vary greatly. Therefore, a systematic retrospective meta-analysis is needed to determine the incidence of the clinical manifestations of COVID-19 in children. MATERIALS ANDMETHODS:
Data from databases, such as PubMed, Web of science, EMBASE, Johns Hopkins University, and Chinese databases were analysed from January 31, 2020 to October 20, 2020. High-quality articles were selected for analysis based on a quality standard score. A meta-analysis of random effects was used to determine the prevalence of comorbidities and subgroup meta-analysis to examine the changes in the estimated prevalence in different subgroups.RESULTS:
Seventy-one articles involving 11,671 children were included in the study. The incidence of fever, respiratory symptoms, gastrointestinal symptoms, asymptomatic patients, nervous system symptoms, and chest tightness was 55.8%, 56.8%, 14.4%, 21.1%, 6.7%, and 6.1%, respectively. The incidence of multisystem inflammatory syndrome was 6.2%. Laboratory examination results showed that lymphocytes decreased in 12% and leukocytes decreased in 8.8% of patients, whereas white blood cells increased in 7.8% of patients. Imaging showed abnormalities in 66.5%, and ground-glass opacities were observed in 36.9% patients. Epidemiological history was present in 85.2% cases; severe disease rate was 3.33%. The mortality rate was 0.28%.CONCLUSIONS:
The clinical symptoms of COVID-19 in children are mild, and laboratory indicators and imaging manifestations are atypical. While screening children for COVID-19, in addition to assessing patients for symptoms as the first step of screening, the epidemiological history of patients should be obtained.
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
COVID-19
Type of study:
Diagnostic study
/
Observational study
/
Prognostic study
/
Randomized controlled trials
/
Reviews
/
Systematic review/Meta Analysis
Topics:
Long Covid
Limits:
Child
/
Child, preschool
/
Humans
Language:
English
Journal:
Eur Rev Med Pharmacol Sci
Journal subject:
Pharmacology
/
Toxicology
Year:
2021
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Eurrev_202101_24685
Similar
MEDLINE
...
LILACS
LIS