Children more resilient against coronavirus, study reveals
Texas team reviews 131 studies of children from 26 countries

Date:
June 26, 2020
Source:
University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio
Summary:
Most children with COVID-19 fared better than adults during the
first four months of the pandemic, according to a systematic review
of 131 studies worldwide.



FULL STORY ==========================================================================
The majority of children with COVID-19 in 26 countries fared well
clinically compared to adults during the first four months of the
pandemic, a newly released study shows.


========================================================================== Researchers from the Long School of Medicine at The University of
Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio prepared the study, which
is the largest systematic review to date of children and young adults
with COVID-19.

EClinicalMedicine, a journal of The Lancet, on June 26 published the
results, which cover studies published between Jan. 24 and May 14.

Among the findings:
* 19% of the pediatric population with COVID-19 had no symptoms.

* 21% exhibited patchy lesions on lung X-rays.

* 5.6% suffered from co-infections, such as flu, on top of COVID-19.

* 3.3% were admitted to intensive care units.

* Seven deaths were reported.

"Our data is compiled from 131 studies and encompasses 7,780 patients
who span the pediatric age spectrum," said study senior author Alvaro
Moreira, MD, MSc, assistant professor of pediatrics at UT Health San
Antonio and a fellowship- trained neonatologist.

"In the study we report the most common symptoms, quantify laboratory
findings and describe imaging characteristics of children with COVID-19,"
Dr. Moreira said. "Furthermore, we summarize treatments that were
administered and offer an initial glimpse of a handful of patients who
met the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) criteria
for multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children." Symptoms The most
frequent symptoms, similar to the adult population, were fever and
cough. Those were found in 59% and 56% of the pediatric population.



==========================================================================
In 233 individuals, a past medical history was noted, and among this
group, 152 were children with compromised immune systems or who had
underlying respiratory or cardiac disease.

The number of children with excellent outcomes surprised the research
team.

"Although we are hearing about severe forms of the disease in children,
this is occurring in very rare circumstances," Dr. Moreira said.

The majority of journal articles were from China. The largest study
that was included was a case series of 2,572 patients reported by the
U.S. CDC COVID-19 team.

Laboratory measures that were consistently abnormal in pediatric
COVID-19 patients included inflammatory markers such as creatine kinase, interleukin- 6 and procalcitonin.

Few severe cases Thankfully, only a small number of patients met
inclusion for multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children. Their
disease paralleled the extreme forms of COVID-19 seen in adults.



========================================================================== "Children with systemic inflammation had a significant decrease in the
amount of lymphocytes in their blood," Dr. Moreira said. "COVID-positive children who didn't have the extreme form of the disease had 42%
lymphocytes in their blood, versus 11% in children with the multisystem syndrome." Lymphocytes are one of the main types of immune cells in
the body.

Kidney failure was seen in nine pediatric patients, liver failure also in
nine and shock in 19. Mechanical ventilation was required by 42 patients.

The study does not take into consideration a new surge of patients in
New York, England and Italy where specialists are now starting to see
children with multisystem inflammatory syndrome, Dr. Moreira said.

In addition to Dr. Moreira, the team consists of two study co-first
authors who are medical students in the Long School of Medicine; a
pediatric intensive care fellow at Texas Children's Hospital in Houston; undergraduate students from Texas A&M, The University of Texas at San
Antonio and Cottey College; a student accepted into the McGovern Medical
School at UTHealth in Houston; and a San Antonio high school student.


========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by University_of_Texas_Health_Science_Center_at_San_Antonio.

Note: Content may be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Ansel Hoang, Kevin Chorath, Axel Moreira, Mary Evans, Finn
Burmeister-
Morton, Fiona Burmeister, Rija Naqvi, Matthew Petershack, Alvaro
Moreira.

COVID-19 in 7780 pediatric patients: A systematic review.

EClinicalMedicine, 2020; 100433 DOI: 10.1016/j.eclinm.2020.100433 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/06/200626114746.htm

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