Department of Health Information Technology, Khalkhal University of Medical Sciences, Khalkhal, Iran.
HBOT Research Center, Golestan Hospital, Islamic Republic of Iran, Navy and AJA Medical University, Tehran, Iran.
Infect Disord Drug Targets. 2022;22(5):e290921196908. doi: 10.2174/1871526521666210929121705.
SARS-CoV-2 is the novel coronavirus that causes severe acute respiratory syndrome and could afflict individuals from all walks of life. Children are usually asymptomatic or represent non-specific mild to moderate symptoms; therefore, they often remain undiagnosed and could be potential reservoirs and silent carriers of the virus. Despite the global attention to COVID-19 and its importance in public health, some clinical and paraclinical aspects of this disease in children are still unclear. Thus, we conducted a comprehensive systematic review of available literature to reflect on the current knowledge and practice of the disease among children.
This study was a systematic review of current evidence conducted in October 2020. We performed a systematic search using the keywords in online databases. The investigation adheres to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) checklist to ensure the reliability and validity of extracted literature and results.
We selected and reviewed 23 most related studies out of 1744 identified papers in an initial online search based on the inclusion and exclusion criteria of the present review; of whom 13 were original research studies, and 10 were letters to the editors, commentaries, viewpoints, consensus statements, and perspectives. Although due to the origin of the current pandemic, China was the country with the most publications (12 articles), data from several countries have been included in this review.
COVID-19 can also affect children and cause systemic disease with several internal organ involvements. However, the prevalence, severity, and diversity of the symptoms in children are less than in adults. Cough and fever appear to be some of the most common symptoms, followed by other symptoms such as gastrointestinal manifestations. Comorbidities increase the risk of severe COVID-19 in children, and those without underlying conditions are very unlikely to suffer from severe disease. Mental health issues such as anxiety and depression due to the isolated situation caused by pandemics are common findings in children of early ages and should be seriously considered in current practice.
SARS-CoV-2 是引起严重急性呼吸系统综合征的新型冠状病毒，可感染社会各阶层人群。儿童通常无症状或表现为非特异性轻度至中度症状；因此，他们往往未被诊断，可能是病毒的潜在储主和隐性携带者。尽管全球对 COVID-19 及其在公共卫生中的重要性高度关注，但该疾病在儿童中的一些临床和临床前方面仍不清楚。因此，我们对现有文献进行了全面的系统综述，以反映目前对儿童疾病的认识和实践。
这是 2020 年 10 月进行的一项关于现有证据的系统综述。我们使用在线数据库中的关键词进行了系统搜索。该调查遵循系统评价和荟萃分析的首选报告项目 (PRISMA) 清单，以确保提取文献和结果的可靠性和有效性。
我们根据本综述的纳入和排除标准，从最初的在线搜索中选择并回顾了 23 篇与研究最相关的论文，其中 13 篇是原始研究，10 篇是给编辑的信、评论、观点、共识声明和观点。虽然由于当前大流行的起源，中国是发表文章最多的国家（12 篇），但本综述也包括了来自其他几个国家的数据。
COVID-19 也可影响儿童并引起全身性疾病，累及多个内脏器官。然而，儿童的症状流行率、严重程度和多样性均低于成年人。咳嗽和发热似乎是最常见的症状，其次是其他症状，如胃肠道表现。合并症增加了儿童患严重 COVID-19 的风险，而无基础疾病的儿童不太可能患重病。由于大流行造成的隔离情况，儿童出现焦虑和抑郁等心理健康问题是常见现象，在当前实践中应予以认真考虑。
