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The study involved 82 medical centers from 25 European countries; Lithuania and Estonia from the Baltic countries participated in the study. The investigation was organized very quickly, started during the peak of the pandemic, the first day of April and lasted until April 24. According to the head of the Department of Pediatric Infectious Diseases at the VUL Santara Clinics Pediatric Center, the lead researcher in Lithuania is dr. Inga Ivaškevičienė, during this period a total of 582 children from birth to eighteen years were studied. In Lithuania, 6 patients from Children’s Hospital with COVID-19 coronavirus infection at that time were included in the study.
According to pediatrician dr. Inga Ivaškevičienė, the research showed that children get sick quite easily, only 8 percent. (48 children) of the children studied needed intensive care services, and in Lithuania no minors needed them. Of all the patients who received intensive care, only half (4%) also required ventilation, and one child received ECM (ectra-body membrane oxygenation). A total of 4 children (0.69%) of 582 subjects died from this infection during this period.
The researchers evaluated the main symptoms of the disease and which were the most frequent: fever and cough (65% of cases), upper respiratory tract infections (54% of cases) and lower respiratory tract, or pneumonia (25% of cases), as well as indigestion symptoms (22%). Indigestion has been reported in some children without any signs of a cold, a symptom generally attributed primarily to intestinal infections. In 16 percent cases, the disease in children occurred without any symptoms and was diagnosed only after contact with the patient.
According to the doctor of the Pediatric Center of Clinicas Santara, the head of the Department of Pediatric Infectious Diseases dr. Inga Ivaškevičienė, the study was very important only because at the beginning of the spread of the infection everyone was more concerned with uncertainty, there was a lack of scientifically based data from European and Western countries, which is common in our country. Lack of data makes planning intensive care services difficult.
For example, one study found that a child with COVID-19 who needs intubation due to respiratory problems has been in the intensive care unit for more than a week. Therefore, in view of the increasing incidence of more serious influenza or respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) as the winter season approaches, it is necessary to take into account the fact that a patient with COVID-19 will need further treatment. intensive.
Of course, according to the pediatric infectious disease physician, this study already allows us to speak more boldly about the fact that COVID-19 infection is actually very easily transmitted in children, but this does not mean that pediatricians should lose vigilance: in severe cases, the need may be due to other child health disorders, chronic diseases. Furthermore, much more scientific effort is needed to find a uniform standard of treatment, and guidelines are provided. To date, all countries have applied symptomatic treatments with different drugs.
The results of a European study were published in the scientific journal The Lancet Child and Alolescent Health by the Lancet group.
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