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 Jul 2:149:e193.
doi: 10.1017/S0950268821001515.

Prevalence and determinants of symptomatic COVID-19 infection among children and adolescents in Qatar: a cross-sectional analysis of 11 445 individuals

Omran A H Musa  1 , Tawanda Chivese  1 , Devendra Bansal  2 , Jazeel Abdulmajeed  3 , Osman Ameen  4 , Nazmul Islam  5 , Chang Xu  1 , Mohamed A Sallam  2 , Soha S Albayat  2 , Hayat S Khogali  2 , Shazia N N Ahmed  2 , Sayed M Himatt  2 , Mohamed Nour  2 , Aiman A Elberdiny  2 , Abdallah Musa  6 , Luis Furuya-Kanamori  7 , Hamad E Al-Romaihi  2 , Suhail A R Doi  1 , Mohammed H J Al-Thani  2 , Elmoubashar Abu Baker Abd Farag  2
Affiliations

Prevalence and determinants of symptomatic COVID-19 infection among children and adolescents in Qatar: a cross-sectional analysis of 11 445 individuals

Omran A H Musa et al. Epidemiol Infect. .

Erratum in

Abstract

There is a paucity of evidence about the prevalence and risk factors for symptomatic infection among children. This study aimed to describe the prevalence of symptomatic coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and its risk factors in children and adolescents aged 0-18 years in Qatar. We conducted a cross-sectional study of all children aged 0-18 years diagnosed with COVID-19 using polymerase chain reaction in Qatar during the period 1st March to 31st July 2020. A generalised linear model with a binomial family and identity link was used to assess the association between selected factors and the prevalence of symptomatic infection. A total of 11 445 children with a median age of 8 years (interquartile range (IQR) 3-13 years) were included in this study. The prevalence of symptomatic COVID-19 was 36.6% (95% confidence interval (CI) 35.7-37.5), and it was similar between children aged <5 years (37.8%), 5-9 years (34.3%) and 10 + years (37.3%). The most frequently reported symptoms among the symptomatic group were fever (73.5%), cough (34.8%), headache (23.2%) and sore throat (23.2%). Fever (82.8%) was more common in symptomatic children aged <5 years, while cough (38.7%) was more prevalent in those aged 10 years or older, compared to other age groups. Variables associated with an increased risk of symptomatic infection were; contact with confirmed cases (RD 0.21; 95% CI 0.20-0.23; P = 0.001), having visited a health care facility (RD 0.54; 95% CI 0.45-0.62; P = 0.001), and children aged under 5 years (RD 0.05; 95% CI 0.02-0.07; P = 0.001) or aged 10 years or older (RD 0.04; 95% CI 0.02-0.06; P = 0.001). A third of the children with COVID-19 were symptomatic with a higher proportion of fever in very young children and a higher proportion of cough in those between 10 and 18 years of age.

Keywords: Children; Qatar; symptomatic COVID-19.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

None.

Figures

Fig. 1.
Fig. 1.
Prevalence of symptoms in symptomatic children with COVID-19.
Fig. 2.
Fig. 2.
Proportion of symptoms by age groups.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Worldometer. COVID-19 Coronavirus Pandemic 2020. Available at https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/.
    1. Mayoclinic. COVID-19 (coronavirus) in babies and children 2020. Available at https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/coronavirus/in-depth/coro....
    1. Health MoP. Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19 2021). Available at https://covid19.moph.gov.qa/EN/Pages/default.aspx.
    1. Badran Set al. (2021) An evidence base for school health policy during the COVID-19 pandemic. Health Behavior and Policy Review 8, 40–47.
    1. Dong Yet al. (2020) Epidemiology of COVID-19 among children in China. Pediatrics 145, 6. - PubMed

Publication types