Evaluation of clinical and laboratory findings of pediatric COVID-19: A single-center experience

Abstract

There is limited data regarding the features of SARS-CoV-2 in children despite the worldwide spread. We aimed to elucidate a better understanding of the clinical and laboratory features of SARS-CoV-2 infection in children. Clinical data about presenting symptoms, exposure history, age, gender, presence of comorbidities, laboratory data, radiological findings including chest radiographs, modalities of treatment, need for hospitalization and clinical classification of disease severity, length of admission were extracted from the medical records. A total of 27 pediatric patients with COVID-19 were included in this study. There were 15 boys, 55.5%. The mean age of children was 6.3 years (range= 2 months-17 years). Six children were hospitalized (22.2%), Hematological abnormalities were present in 15 out of 27 (55.5%) children. All patients got CXRs and 7 out of 27 had abnormal findings (25.9%). There may be differences in presenting symptoms and clinical features between children from different regions and countries. This pediatric clinical report adds data from the epicenter of pandemic in Turkey, Istanbul, discussing symptomatology and radiological findings in children.