Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 Feb;32(2):358-362.
doi: 10.1111/pai.13371. Epub 2020 Sep 28.

The younger the milder clinical course of COVID-19: Even in newborns?

Char Leung  1
Affiliations

The younger the milder clinical course of COVID-19: Even in newborns?

Char Leung. Pediatr Allergy Immunol. 2021 Feb.

Abstract

Background: Milder symptoms were observed in children with COVID-19. However, whether this also holds true for neonates is not known.

Methods: The clinical data of a total of 3213 patients aged 2 years or below, including 749 neonates, in Brazil nationwide were studied. Comparisons were made between neonate and infant patients by conducting statistical tests.

Results: Neonates appeared to bear more severe clinical courses. In addition to higher case fatality rates, newborns with COVID-19 had much shorter time from symptom onset to death and longer time from symptom onset to discharge. Dyspnoea, sore throat and cough were more prominent in neonate patients, suggestive of both upper and lower respiratory tract infection, as opposed to upper respiratory tract symptoms mostly observed in children.

Conclusion: Findings suggested that trained immunity provides a possible explanation because the innate immune system in newborns is not "well-trained" while that in adult tends to hyperactive.

Keywords: COVID-19; neonates; newborns; trained immunity.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

REFERENCES

    1. Tian Y, Rong L, Nian W, He Y. Review article: gastrointestinal features in COVID-19 and the possibility of faecal transmission. Aliment Pharmacol Ther. 2020;51(9):843-851.
    1. Karimi-Zarchi M, Neamatzadeh H, Dastgheib SA, et al. Vertical Transmission of Coronavirus Disease 19 (COVID-19) from infected pregnant mothers to neonates: a review. Fetal Pediatr Pathol. 2020;39(3):246-250.
    1. Lu Q, Shi Y. Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and neonate: what neonatologist need to know. J Med Virol. 2020;92(6):564-567.
    1. Leung C. Clinical characteristics of COVID-19 in children: are they similar to those of SARS? Pediatr Pulmonol. 2020;55(7):1592-1597.
    1. Ludvigsson JF. Systematic review of COVID-19 in children shows milder cases and a better prognosis than adults. Acta Paediatr. 2020;109(6):1088-1095.

LinkOut - more resources