From the Department of Pediatrics (Shahin), Faculty of Medicine, from the Department of Clinical and Chemical Pathology (Rabie), Kasr Alainy Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt; and from the Department of Pediatrics (Shahin, Alyossof, Alasiri, Alfaki, Mahmoud, Hijazi, El Faraidi, Alahmari), Prince Sultan Military Medical City, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Saudi Med J. 2021 Mar;42(3):299-305. doi: 10.15537/smj.2021.42.3.20200625.
To identify clinical and laboratory characteristics of the Saudi children with confirmed COVID-19.
Eighty-eight children (0-14 years) with COVID-19 who were admitted to Prince Sultan Military Medical City (PSMMC), Riyadh, Saudi Arabia from April to June 2020 were recruited.
Mean age was 5.74 ± 4.7 years with 41 (49.4%) males and 42 (50.6%) females. The length of hospital stay (LOS) ranged from 1 to 17 days. The main source of infection was infected family members. Mean values of C-reactive protein (CRP), serum ferritin, and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) were noticeably above normal. Degree of severity and length of stay was significantly correlated with lymphopenia (r= -0.36; =0.001), whereas it was positively correlated with absolute neutrophil count and with high inflammatory markers, such as CRP, LDH, and others.
Identifying the clinical and laboratory characteristics of the Saudi children with confirmed COVID-19 will improve understanding of this disease's presentation and will help put rapid and proper management strategies into place to face this pandemic. A high index of suspicion is needed for cases presenting with multi-system inflammatory disease, which represented 5.7% of the included study population.
确定沙特 COVID-19 确诊患儿的临床和实验室特征。
从 2020 年 4 月至 6 月，在沙特阿拉伯利雅得的苏丹亲王军事医学城（PSMMC）招募了 88 名（0-14 岁）COVID-19 患儿。
平均年龄为 5.74 ± 4.7 岁，其中 41 名（49.4%）为男性，42 名（50.6%）为女性。住院时间（LOS）从 1 天到 17 天不等。感染源主要是受感染的家庭成员。C 反应蛋白（CRP）、血清铁蛋白和乳酸脱氢酶（LDH）的平均值明显高于正常值。严重程度和住院时间与淋巴细胞减少呈显著负相关（r=-0.36；=0.001），而与绝对中性粒细胞计数和高炎症标志物（如 CRP、LDH 等）呈正相关。
确定沙特 COVID-19 确诊患儿的临床和实验室特征将有助于更好地了解该疾病的表现，并有助于制定快速、适当的管理策略来应对这一流行疫情。对于表现出多系统炎症性疾病的病例，需要高度警惕，在纳入研究的人群中，这一比例为 5.7%。
