Immunisation and Countermeasures Division, Public Health England, London, UK
Paediatric Infectious Diseases Research Group, St. George's University of London, London, UK.
Arch Dis Child. 2020 Dec;105(12):1180-1185. doi: 10.1136/archdischild-2020-320042. Epub 2020 Aug 12.
To assess disease trends, testing practices, community surveillance, case-fatality and excess deaths in children as compared with adults during the first pandemic peak in England.
England.
Children with COVID-19 between January and May 2020.
Trends in confirmed COVID-19 cases, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) positivity rates in children compared with adults; community prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 in children with acute respiratory infection (ARI) compared with adults, case-fatality rate in children with confirmed COVID-19 and excess childhood deaths compared with the previous 5 years.
Children represented 1.1% (1,408/129,704) of SARS-CoV-2 positive cases between 16 January 2020 and 3 May 2020. In total, 540 305 people were tested for SARS-COV-2 and 129,704 (24.0%) were positive. In children aged <16 years, 35,200 tests were performed and 1408 (4.0%) were positive for SARS-CoV-2, compared to 19.1%-34.9% adults. Childhood cases increased from mid-March and peaked on 11 April before declining. Among 2,961 individuals presenting with ARI in primary care, 351 were children and 10 (2.8%) were positive compared with 9.3%-45.5% in adults. Eight children died and four (case-fatality rate, 0.3%; 95% CI 0.07% to 0.7%) were due to COVID-19. We found no evidence of excess mortality in children.
Children accounted for a very small proportion of confirmed cases despite the large numbers of children tested. SARS-CoV-2 positivity was low even in children with ARI. Our findings provide further evidence against the role of children in infection and transmission of SARS-CoV-2.
评估英格兰首次大流行高峰期间儿童与成人相比的疾病趋势、检测实践、社区监测、病死率和超额死亡。
英格兰。
2020 年 1 月至 5 月期间患有 COVID-19 的儿童。
确诊 COVID-19 病例的趋势，儿童与成人相比 SARS-CoV-2 阳性率；儿童急性呼吸道感染（ARI）与成人相比 SARS-CoV-2 的社区流行率，儿童确诊 COVID-19 的病死率以及与前 5 年相比儿童超额死亡。
2020 年 1 月 16 日至 2020 年 5 月 3 日，儿童占 SARS-CoV-2 阳性病例的 1.1%（1408/129704）。共有 540305 人接受了 SARS-COV-2 检测，129704 人（24.0%）呈阳性。在年龄<16 岁的儿童中，进行了 35200 次检测，有 1408 例（4.0%）SARS-CoV-2 检测呈阳性，而成年人的阳性率为 19.1%-34.9%。儿童病例从 3 月中旬开始增加，4 月 11 日达到高峰后下降。在初级保健中出现 ARI 的 2961 人中，有 351 人是儿童，10 人（2.8%）呈阳性，而成年人的阳性率为 9.3%-45.5%。有 8 名儿童死亡，其中 4 名（病死率为 0.3%；95%CI 0.07%至 0.7%）是由 COVID-19 引起的。我们没有发现儿童死亡人数异常增加的证据。
尽管接受检测的儿童人数众多，但儿童仅占确诊病例的很小一部分。即使是患有 ARI 的儿童，SARS-CoV-2 阳性率也很低。我们的发现进一步证明儿童在感染和传播 SARS-CoV-2 方面的作用不大。
