key: cord-1037324-1o1voecp authors: Wang, Evelyn; Brar, Kanwaljit title: COVID-19 in children: an epidemiology study from China date: 2020-04-21 journal: J Allergy Clin Immunol Pract DOI: 10.1016/j.jaip.2020.04.024 sha: f5cf4deef90ead3b36f9a88a878616583789f482 doc_id: 1037324 cord_uid: 1o1voecp nan COVID-19 in children: an epidemiology study from China Q1 Q8 Evelyn Wang, MD, and Kanwaljit Brar, MD Denver, Colo Practice Options from Beyond Our Pages focuses on identifying, critiquing, and placing into context research studies published in other journals that have the potential to change our clinical practices. It is written by Allergy-Immunology Fellows partnered with faculty members, and does not require an invitation for submission. This feature is coordinated by Editorial Board members Matthew Rank, MD and Julie Wang, MD. In December 2019, several mysterious pneumonia cases emerged in Wuhan, Hubei province, China. In January 2020, a novel enveloped RNA coronavirus was identified as the cause, and by January 7, 2020, it was named by the World Health Organization (WHO) as 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV). By early-April 2020, the virus has spread widely across the world with over 1.5 million confirmed cases, which are increasing daily. The WHO has declared a public health emergency. 1 Despite worldwide spread, the epidemiological and clinical patterns of 2019-nCoV among children were initially unclear. Recently, public health officials announced the first death of an infant with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Cook County, Illinois, making identification of the features of COVID-19 in children of paramount importance. As such, we wish to present the findings of the largest retrospective study thus far of epidemiologic characteristics of 2143 pediatric patients with COVID-19. 2 Retrospective data from an electronic master database of children less than 18 years reported to the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention from January 16 to February 8, 2020, were included for analysis. Most children originated from Hubei province, but there was significant disease spread to surrounding provinces. Children were selected if they were exposed to a COVID-19 case within the last 2 weeks or lived in an epidemic area (ie, Hubei province) or community where COVID-19 cases were reported. In addition, they were also included if they lived in a nonepidemic area where COVID-19 cases were not reported, but had 2 of the following conditions: (1) clinical findings defined as fever, upper respiratory infection (URI) symptoms, gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms, fatigue; (2) laboratory findings of leukopenia, lymphopenia, increased CRP Q4 ; and (3) abnormal chest X-ray findings (unspecified). Confirmed cases were confirmed with real-time polymerase chain reaction of nasal and pharyngeal swab specimens or blood samples. Patients could also be confirmed with genetic sequencing of respiratory tract or blood samples. The patients who were not confirmed, but had been excluded from influenza and other common respiratory infections were labeled as suspected diagnosis. Patients were further stratified by severity into asymptomatic, mild, moderate, severe, and critical (see Table I ), based on clinical and examination findings, and associated complications. 2 Two thousand one hundred and forty-three total pediatric cases were identified. Sixty-six percent (66%) of cases were suspected, and 34% were confirmed. Ninety-four (4.4%) of the patients were asymptomatic, 1091 (50.9%) were mild, 831 (38.8%) were moderate, 112 (5.2%) were severe, and 13 (0.6%) were critical. All of the 94 asymptomatic patients without clinical symptoms and normal chest imaging were confirmed. Of the 1091 mild patients, 315 were confirmed and 776 were suspected. These patients had URI symptoms including cough, sore throat, runny nose, sneezing, fever, and fatigue. On physical examination (PE), they had pharyngeal findings but no auscultatory abnormalities. Notably, some of these cases had no fever and only GI symptoms, such as nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, and diarrhea. Of the 831 moderate patients, 300 were confirmed and 513 were suspected. These patients had pneumonia, frequent fever, and cough (mostly dry cough followed by a productive cough). PE revealed wheezing, though no hypoxemia or shortness of breath. A subset of moderate patients had no clinical symptoms, but had positive chest computed tomography (CT) showing "lung lesions." Of the 112 severe patients, 18 were confirmed and 94 were suspected. These patients had continued fever, cough, and GI symptoms around 1 week of disease progression with severe respiratory findings of dyspnea, central cyanosis, and hypoxemia. Of the 13 critical patients, 3 were confirmed and 10 were suspected. These patients had acute respiratory distress syndrome or other organ dysfunction including respiratory failure, shock, encephalopathy, myocardial injury or heart failure, coagulation dysfunction, and acute kidney injury. There were more males (56.6%) than females (43.4%), though this was not statistically significant. Of the 125 severe and critical cases, 40 (32%) were less than 12 months of age and 36 (28.8%) were less than 5 years (see Table I ). Thus, 60% of the total severe and critical cases were in children less than 5. One child (age unspecified) died of unknown causes. This study is the largest retrospective study to date on COVID-19 in children. It highlights the differences in symptomology compared with adults, including occurrence of fever, which may occur in 88.7% of hospitalized adults compared with 41% to 56% of pediatric patients. 3-5 Statistical analysis of clinical symptoms was not provided. The study supports other recent findings about the mild nature of disease in children, as recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) data show that only 5.7% of pediatric patients were hospitalized compared with 10% of adults aged 18 to 64. 2, 3, 5 Similarly, in another study of 6 COVID-19 hospitalized patients between 1 and 7 years old, all recovered after median hospitalization stay of 7.5 days, with only 1 child admitted to the pediatric intensive care unit. 4 Interestingly, cough and pharyngitis were the most common symptoms in these patients. In another retrospective study of 9 hospitalized infants with confirmed COVID-19, none required intensive care, had severe complications, or needed mechanical ventilation. 6 Because infants rely on caretakers, all were infected through household contacts. There are a few limitations of this study; for example, testing was confirmed using pharyngeal, nasal, blood, or respiratory tract samples; anal swabs were not obtained, though viral fecal shedding has also been reported. 7, 8 The testing methods used confirmed that children may be asymptomatic carriers of the virus, though it was unclear if these asymptomatic children were identified because of history of exposure, or residence in the Hubei province through universal screening processes. It is additionally unclear if suspected patients had negative testing, or if suspected patients were not tested because of limitations in testing supplies, or testing abilities in the pediatric population. Notably, there were more suspected than confirmed cases in the severe/critical categories, making it difficult to identify those at risk for a severe phenotype of this disease. It is possible that these severe and critical children may have had another disease process or infection. Current retrospective studies from China would suggest that children seem to have a milder phenotype of COVID-19 than adults. In children, common presentation of COVID-19 may be asymptomatic, or limited to pharyngitis or cough, or only GI symptoms. 2 Approximately half of pediatric patients present with fever, far less frequent than adults, and providers should be aware of these differences from adult household contacts. 9, 10 In this study, some children had no clinical symptoms but positive chest CT findings, which were not specified; however, findings identified in other studies include ground glass opacities, local and bilateral patchy shadowing, interstitial abnormalities, and consolidation. 5, 11 Thus, radiographs play an important role in diagnostic workup of COVID-19. In addition, patients with more moderate findings may warrant a more extensive laboratory workup. Current CDC guidelines suggest testing only if having a risk factor plus clinical features, typically cough, lower respiratory symptoms, and fever. Consideration may be given to enhanced pediatric testing, as many infected children may be unidentified carriers, thus spreading the disease throughout the community. Acknowledgments Q5 E. Wang helped with creation of figures, drafting of the manuscript, and critical revision. She takes responsibility for the manuscript. She is a fellow-in-training. K. Brar helped with drafting of the manuscript and critical revision. She is a faculty member. 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289 290 291 292 293 294 295 296 297 298 299 300 301 302 303 304 305 306 307 308 309 310 311 312 313 314 315 316 317 318 319 320 321 322 323 324 325 326 327 328 329 330 331 332 333 334 335 336 337 338 339 340 341 342 343 344 345 346 347 348 349 350 351 352 353 354 355 356 357 358 359 360 361 362 363 364 365 366 367 368 369 370 371 372 373 374 375 376 377 378 379 380 381 382 383 384 385 386 387 388 World Health Organization Epidemiological characteristics of 2143 pediatric patients with 2019 coronavirus disease in China Coronavirus Disease 2019 in Children-United States Clinical characteristics of coronavirus disease 2019 in China SARS-CoV-2 infection in children Detection of COVID-19 in children in early Novel coronavirus infection in hospitalized infants under 1 year of age in China Characteristics of pediatric SARS-CoV-2 infection and potential evidence for persistent fecal viral shedding A 55-day-old female infant infected with COVID 19: presenting with pneumonia, liver injury, and heart damage Coronavirus infections in children including COVID-19: An overview of the epidemiology, clinical features, diagnosis, treatment and prevention options in children Chest CT findings in coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19): relationship to duration of infection