Symptoms of COVID-19 in children

Abstract

The aim of this study was to review the symptomatic manifestations of COVID-19 in children in the scientific literature. An integrative review of studies published between December 2019 and September 5, 2021, from the Medical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System Online, Web of Science, Scopus, Literatura Latino-Americana em Ciência de Saúde, and Base de Dados de Enfermagem databases, was carried out to answer the following research question: What symptomatic manifestations does COVID-19 cause in children?". Twenty articles were included. The main symptoms described were fever, cough, diarrhea, vomiting, sore throat, dyspnea, headache, abdominal pain, malaise, and weakness or tiredness. The findings of this review can contribute to the diagnosis and clinical decision-making of the health team by providing information that facilitates the identification of COVID-19 in the target population, favoring early identification, better care, and consequently a better prognosis.

Figure 1. Flowchart of article selection process in the databases.

Figure 2. Graph showing the frequency of the onset of symptoms of COVID-19 in children in the articles included. *Symptoms that appeared in only one of the 20 studies: dysphonia, drowsiness, anorexia, dizziness, sputum, oropharyngeal hyperemia, pharyngitis, chills, odynophagia, and chest pain.