Retrospective Analysis of Clinical Characteristics and Disease Outcomes in Children and Adolescents Hospitalized Due to COVID-19 Infection in Tunisia.
Viruses
; 16(5)2024 05 14.
Article
en En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-38793660
ABSTRACT
Due to low susceptibility of coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVID-19) in children, limited studies are available regarding COVID-19 in the pediatric population in Tunisia. The current study evaluated the incidence, clinical characteristics, and outcomes of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus type 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection among children hospitalized at Béchir Hamza Children's Hospital. A retrospective cohort analysis was conducted using the hospital database between March 2020 and February 2022 with children aged ≤15 years with SARS-CoV-2 infection (confirmed by RT-PCR). A total of 327 COVID-19 hospitalized patients with a mean age of 3.3 years were included; the majority were male. Neurological disease (20%) was the most common comorbidity, while fever (95.3%) followed by cough (43.7%) and dyspnea (39.6%) were the most frequent symptoms reported. Severe disease with oxygen requirement occurred in 30% of the patients; 13% were admitted in the Intensive Care Unit. The overall incidence rate of COVID-19 hospitalization (in Tunis governorates) was 77.02 per 100,000 while the inpatient case fatality rate was 5% in the study population. The most prevalent circulating variant during our study period was Delta (48.8%), followed by Omicron (26%). More than 45% of the study population were <6 months and one-fourth (n = 25, 26.5%) had at least one comorbidity. Thus, the study findings highlight the high disease burden of COVID-19 in infants.
Palabras clave
Texto completo:
1
Colección:
01-internacional
Banco de datos:
MEDLINE
Asunto principal:
Comorbilidad
/
SARS-CoV-2
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COVID-19
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Hospitalización
Límite:
Adolescent
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Child
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Child, preschool
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Female
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Humans
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Infant
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Male
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Newborn
País/Región como asunto:
Africa
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Viruses
Año:
2024
Tipo del documento:
Article
País de afiliación:
Túnez