Characteristics and Outcomes of Children With Coronavirus Disease 2019

Date: 
Monday, May 11, 2020
Summary: 

Conclusions and Relevance  This early report describes the burden of COVID-19 infection in North American PICUs and confirms that severe illness in children is significant but far less frequent than in adults. Prehospital comorbidities appear to be an important factor in children.

This early report describes the burden of COVID-19 infection in North American PICUs and confirms that severe illness in children is significant but far less frequent than in adults. Pre hospital comorbidities appear to be an important factor in children.

We found the severity of illness in infants and children with COVID-19 to be far less than that documented in adults, with most PICUs across North America reporting no children admitted with this disease during the study period. Of the criticallyillchildrenwithCOVID-19, more than 80% had significant long-term underlying medical conditions. Over all survival and outcomes from critical illness in infants and children with COVID-19 in this series was far better than reported for adult patients. At the present time, our data indicate that children are at far greater risk of critical illness from influenza than from COVID-19.    Link article