[ad_1]
Most children with COVID-19 may present with mild symptoms, if any, that require supportive care, with a good prognosis and possible full recovery within one to two weeks, according to a review of studies, which shows the manifestation disease clinic in young people.
The research, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, evaluated 18 studies with a total of 1,065 participants from China and Singapore, most of whom were pediatric patients with the new coronavirus infection.
According to the researchers, including those from the University of Pavia in Italy, the majority of pediatric patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection had fever, dry cough and fatigue, or were asymptomatic.
They said that only one baby had pneumonia, complicated by shock and kidney failure, and that he was successfully treated with intensive care.
Most pediatric patients were hospitalized, and symptomatic children received mainly supportive care with no deaths reported in the 0 to 9-year age range, scientists in the study noted.
The researchers believe that defining the clinical characteristics and severity of the disease in large cohorts of patients is an urgent need.
While data is available for adult COVID-19 patients, limited reports look at SARS-CoV-2-infected pediatric patients, they said.
In this context, the current review study of COVID-19 in children and adolescents sheds light on clinical characteristics, diagnostic tests, current therapeutic treatment, and prognosis.
Fever and cough were the main symptoms, the researchers said, adding that both were reported in six of the included studies.
Only one case of a 13-month-old baby reported severe symptoms.
Scientists said this patient developed vomiting, diarrhea, fever, and pneumonia, complicated by shock with metabolic acidosis and kidney failure that required intensive care and assisted ventilation.
Among the two studies that presented gastrointestinal complications from COVID-19, vomiting was described as the primary clinical manifestation.
Except for the single case of severe infection, none of the included patients required oxygen or assisted ventilation, the scientists noted.
They said that overall, the patients had a good medical result, however, one death was reported in the age range of 10 to 19 years.
According to the analysis, the scientists said that pediatric patients acquired infections primarily through close contact with their parents or other family members.
Citing a case study, they added that COVID-19 infection could affect newborns who acquired the infection from the mother, suggesting possible perinatal-peripartum transmission.
However, they said that larger studies should be done to confirm this.
The scientists added that there were some limitations to their method of analysis.
They said the research was conducted over a short 3-month period with almost all Chinese reporting studies, as European and American studies in children with COVID-19 were not available at the time this review was conducted.
Therefore, the review research was unable to assess potential clinical, diagnostic, and therapeutic differences, and compare pediatric outcomes with data from adults with SARS-CoV-2 infection, the researchers noted in the study.
The scientists were also unable to assess any possible correlation between viral load and clinical symptoms.
They said that the lack of data on pediatric patients requires further epidemiological and clinical studies to identify possible preventive and therapeutic strategies.
