Chest X-ray findings of COVID-19 pneumonia in children: Experiences in a multicenter study in Thailand.

INTRODUCTION: Although chest X-ray is commonly used to diagnose COVID-19 pneumonia, few studies have explored findings in pediatric patients. This study aimed to reveal chest X-ray characteristics in children with COVID-19 pneumonia and compare between non-severe and severe cases. METHODS: This multicenter, nationwide retrospective study included all children aged 0 to 15 years who were admitted to 13 medical facilities throughout Thailand with COVID-19 pneumonia between January 2020 and October 2021. We analyzed the demographics, clinical features, and chest X-ray results of these children, and compared differences between the non-severe and severe groups. RESULTS: During the study period, 1018 children (52% male, median age 5 years) were admitted with COVID-19 pneumonia. Most chest radiographic findings showed bilateral (51%) patchy/ground glass opacities (61%) in the central area (64%). Only 12% of the children exhibited typical classification for COVID-19 pneumonia, whereas 74% of chest radiographs were categorized as indeterminate. Comorbidities including chronic lung diseases [adjusted OR (95%CI): 14.56 (3.80-55.75), P-value <0.001], cardiovascular diseases [adjusted OR (95%CI): 7.54 (1.44-39.48), P-value 0.017], genetic diseases [adjusted OR (95%CI): 28.39 (4.55-177.23), P-value <0.001], clinical dyspnea [adjusted OR (95%CI): 12.13 (5.94-24.77), P-value <0.001], tachypnea [adjusted OR (95%CI): 3.92 (1.79-8.55), P-value 0.001], and bilateral chest X-ray infiltrations [adjusted OR (95%CI): 1.99 (1.05-3.78), P-value 0.036] were factors associated with severe COVID-19 pneumonia. CONCLUSION: Most children with COVID-19 pneumonia had indeterminate chest X-rays according to the previous classification. We suggest using chest X-rays in conjunction with clinical presentation to screen high-risk patients for early detection of COVID-19 pneumonia.

Development and validation of the predictive score for pediatric COVID-19 pneumonia: A nationwide, multicenter study.

BACKGROUND: Due to the possibility of asymptomatic pneumonia in children with COVID-19 leading to overexposure to radiation and problems in limited-resource settings, we conducted a nationwide, multi-center study to determine the risk factors of pneumonia in children with COVID-19 in order to create a pediatric pneumonia predictive score, with score validation. METHODS: This was a retrospective cohort study done by chart review of all children aged 0-15 years admitted to 13 medical centers across Thailand during the study period. Univariate and multivariate analyses as well as backward and forward stepwise logistic regression were used to generate a final prediction model of the pneumonia score. Data during the pre-Delta era was used to create a prediction model whilst data from the Delta one was used as a validation cohort. RESULTS: The score development cohort consisted of 1,076 patients in the pre-Delta era, and the validation cohort included 2,856 patients in the Delta one. Four predictors remained after backward and forward stepwise logistic regression: age < 5 years, number of comorbidities, fever, and dyspnea symptoms. The predictive ability of the novel pneumonia score was acceptable with the area under the receiver operating characteristics curve of 0.677 and a well-calibrated goodness-of-fit test (p = 0.098). The positive likelihood ratio for pneumonia was 0.544 (95% confidence interval (CI): 0.491-0.602) in the low-risk category, 1.563 (95% CI: 1.454-1.679) in the moderate, and 4.339 (95% CI: 2.527-7.449) in the high-risk. CONCLUSION: This study created an acceptable clinical prediction model which can aid clinicians in performing an appropriate triage for children with COVID-19.

Successful treatment of a child with Schwartz-Jampel syndrome using rapid maxillary expansion and CPAP.

STUDY OBJECTIVES: We reported an 8-year-old male patient with Schwartz-Jampel syndrome, severe obstructive sleep apnea, constricted maxilla and moderate tonsillar hypertrophy. The syndrome is characterized by myotonia, skeletal dysplasia, and facial dysmorphism. METHODS: CPAP was initially prescribed, but he was not able to tolerate due to a high pressure setting. Rapid maxillary expansion alone reduced AHI to 10.4 events/h. RESULTS: When combined with CPAP, AHI is further reduced to 2.4 events/h. The patient has a better compliance with CPAP following rapid maxillary expansion therapy as the pressure setting decreased. CONCLUSIONS: This is the first report utilizing a combination of rapid maxillary expansion and CPAP therapy to successfully treat severe pediatric OSA.