key: cord-1054520-yfsakb3i
authors: Meyer, Meike; Ruebsteck, Esra; Gruell, Henning; Klein, Florian; Lehmann, Clara; Wendt, Stefanie; Huenseler, Christoph; Weber, Lutz Thorsten
title: COVID‐19 study found that 0.4% of 5730 asymptomatic children aged 0–18 years tested positive for virus before hospital procedures or admission
date: 2021-05-01
journal: Acta Paediatr
DOI: 10.1111/apa.15884
sha: 1c0b8bc2882e3fb1ca96a77c38dfc7f2b6a5daa1
doc_id: 1054520
cord_uid: yfsakb3i

This German study provides an overview of the prevalence of the severe acute respiratory coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in asymptomatic children aged 0-18 years from 13 March to 13 December 2020. National data published at the end of the study period showed that 14.1% of German citizens who had tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 were under the age of 19 years.

COVID-19 study found that 0.4% of 5730 asymptomatic children aged 0-18 years tested positive for virus before hospital procedures or admission This German study provides an overview of the prevalence of the severe acute respiratory coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in asymptomatic children aged 0-18 years from 13 March to 13 December 2020.

National data published at the end of the study period showed that 14.1% of German citizens who had tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 were under the age of 19 years. 1 However, less is known about how contagious asymptomatic children are.

The data, which were collected by the Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital Cologne, comprised 5730 real-time reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (PCR) results, including 2315 PCR tests from children with an underlying chronic disease.

We analysed the PCR results of all children who received an elective SARS-CoV-2 PCR during the 9-month study period, to rule out infections before further in-house diagnostics or hospital admission.

All the nasopharyngeal or oropharyngeal swabs were performed by trained staff. We excluded patients who were categorised as suspected cases according to national guidelines. These were those with symptoms that suggested COVID-19 and those who had been in contact with somebody who had recently tested positive for the virus.

The following data were retrospectively collected: gender, age, reason for presentation, potential symptoms, potential virus contacts and the cycle threshold value if the PCR was positive for SARS-CoV-2. A patient with a high cycle threshold has a low concentration of viral genetic material and this is typically associated with a lower risk of infectivity.

We also collected information on any potential risk groups, namely patients with any chronic diseases, including cardiac, oncological, pulmonary or renal diseases.

Numerical variables were presented using means and standard deviations or medians and ranges if the sample was not normally distributed. We checked for normal distribution by using 

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