Student Research Center, Qazvin University of Medical Sciences, Qazvin, Iran.
Cancer Research Center, Cancer Research Institute, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
J Glob Health. 2022 Nov 12;12:05048. doi: 10.7189/jogh.12.05048.
COVID-19 presents as a mild and less severe respiratory disease among children. However, it is still lethal and could lead to death in paediatric cases. The current study aimed to investigate the clinical characteristics of children and young people hospitalized due to COVID-19 in Qazvin-Iran. We also investigated the risk factors of death due to COVID-19 in paediatric cases.
We performed a retrospective cohort study on 645 children and young people (ages 0-17) hospitalized since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. The cases were confirmed with positive results of reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). The data were retrieved from an electronic database of demographic, epidemiological, and clinical characteristics.
The median age of the admitted patients was 4.0 years, 33.6% were under 12 months old, and 53.0% were female. Fever, cough, nausea/vomiting, dyspnoea, and myalgia were the most common symptoms presented by 50.5%, 47.6%, 24.2%, and 23.0% of the patients, respectively. Overall, we observed 16 cases of death and the in-hospital fatality rate was 2.5%. We also found comorbidity as an independent risk factor of death (odds ratio (OR) = 3.8, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.2-12.1, P-value = 0.022). Finally, we observed an increased risk of death in patients with dyspnoea (OR = 11.0, 95% CI = 2.8-43.7).
In-hospital mortality was relatively high in paediatric patients who were hospitalized due to COVID-19 in Iran. The risk of hospitalization, ICU admission, and death was higher among children with younger ages, underlying causes, and dyspnoea.
COVID-19 在儿童中表现为轻度且不太严重的呼吸道疾病。然而，它仍然具有致命性，并可能导致儿科病例死亡。本研究旨在调查伊朗卡齐凡因 COVID-19 住院的儿童和青少年的临床特征。我们还研究了儿科病例 COVID-19 死亡的危险因素。
我们对自 COVID-19 大流行开始以来住院的 645 名儿童和青少年（0-17 岁）进行了回顾性队列研究。这些病例通过逆转录-聚合酶链反应（RT-PCR）的阳性结果得到确认。数据从人口统计学、流行病学和临床特征的电子数据库中检索。
住院患者的中位年龄为 4.0 岁，33.6%的患者年龄在 12 个月以下，53.0%为女性。发热、咳嗽、恶心/呕吐、呼吸困难和肌痛是 50.5%、47.6%、24.2%和 23.0%的患者最常见的症状。总体而言，我们观察到 16 例死亡，住院病死率为 2.5%。我们还发现合并症是死亡的独立危险因素（比值比（OR）=3.8，95%置信区间（CI）=1.2-12.1，P 值=0.022）。最后，我们发现呼吸困难患者的死亡风险增加（OR=11.0，95%CI=2.8-43.7）。
在伊朗因 COVID-19 住院的儿科患者中，住院病死率相对较高。年龄较小、有基础疾病和呼吸困难的儿童住院、入住 ICU 和死亡的风险更高。
