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. 2020 Jul:128:104425.
doi: 10.1016/j.jcv.2020.104425. Epub 2020 May 7.

Coronavirus disease 2019 in children: Characteristics, antimicrobial treatment, and outcomes

Hui Peng  1 , Ping Gao  1 , Qiong Xu  1 , Maochang Liu  1 , Jing Peng  1 , Yang Wang  2 , Hua Xu  3
Affiliations

Coronavirus disease 2019 in children: Characteristics, antimicrobial treatment, and outcomes

Hui Peng et al. J Clin Virol. 2020 Jul.

Abstract

Background: At present, coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has spread in many countries. We conducted this study to help pediatricians understand the conditions of COVID-19 in children.

Methods: We retrospectively summarized the characteristics, treatment and outcomes of pediatric cases in Wuhan Children's Hospital which was the only designated hospital for children with COVID-19 in Hubei Province. A Cox proportional hazards regression analysis was used to evaluate factors associated with clinical outcomes.

Results: As of February 29, 75 children had been discharged, of which only one was has severe pneumonia and one was critical cases. Children younger than 2 years were more susceptible to COVID-19. All patients have received interferon-α nebulization, and eight cases including the severe and critical cases were co-administrated ribavirin. Five patients with mild pneumonia were given arbidol. Twenty-three patients were given traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). The average length of stay (LOS) and the time of SARS-CoV-2 clearance were 10.57 and 6.39 days, respectively. None of the factors was associated with LOS or time of SARS-CoV-2 clearance.

Conclusions: The severity of COVID-19 in pediatric cases were milder than adults. The efficacy of the antiviral therapy in children with COVID-19 remains to be evaluated.

Keywords: Characteristics; Coronavirus disease 2019; Outcomes; Pediatric; Treatment.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Competing Interest All authors certify no potential conflicts of interest.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Age distribution of the pediatric patients with COVID-19 (n = 75).
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
The length of hospital stay of the pediatric patients with COVID-19 (n = 75).
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
The duration of SARS-CoV-2 RNA clearance in the pediatric patients with COVID-19 (n = 75).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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