Evaluation of children followed up for Covid-19 in a tertiary hospital

ABSTRACT

Since December 2019, 2019 outbreak of coronavirus (Covid-19) spread all over the world as well as in Turkey. In this study, we aimed to investigate the clinical and laboratory effects of covid 19 disease on children. The epidemiological, laboratory, radiological, and treatment features of the 30 pediatric patients with covid-19 evaluated retrospectively. The median age of the patients was 10 years, boys and girls ratio was 1.5 (18/12). Of the patients, 80.7% had family contact and 11.5% had comorbidity. The most common symptom was fever (84.6%), and cough was the second frequency (57.7%). All patients except 1 patient had a mild course, 5 were asymptomatic. One patient needed intensive care who had underlying chronic disease. Neutropenia was the most common laboratory anomaly (36.6%). Increased D-dimer levels were observed in 9 patients (30%), decreased leukocyte was in 7 patients (23.3%) and increasedlactate dehydrogenaz level was in 8 patients (26.6%). Chest computed tomography was taken 14 patients who had an abnormal chest X-rays, and ground-glass opacities were seen in 6 patients (20%). Hydroxychlorachine, azithromycin and other antibiotic treatments were given to the necessary patients. The mean PCR negative time in the treated symptomatic group was 8.8 +5.34 day, while in the untreated asymptomatic group 12 + 5.19 day and there was no statistically significant difference (p=0.154). The correlation between PCR negative time and clinical, laboratory, and radiological findings was examined and no correlation was found. In conclusion, pediatric covid 19 is mostly transmitted by family contact and has a mild course if there is no underlying disease. The most common symptoms are fever and cough. Ground glass densities on lung tomography are similar to adult. More conservative approaches may be preferred in children.