Takács AT, Bukva M, Gavallér G, Kapus K, Rózsa M, Bán‐Gagyi B, Sinkó M, Szűcs D, Terhes G, Bereczki C. Epidemiology and clinical features of SARS‐CoV‐2 infection in hospitalized children across four waves in Hungary: A retrospective, comparative study from March 2020 to December 2021.
Health Sci Rep 2022;
5:e937. [PMID:
36425898 PMCID:
PMC9679239 DOI:
10.1002/hsr2.937]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/11/2022] [Revised: 10/26/2022] [Accepted: 10/31/2022] [Indexed: 11/23/2022] Open
Abstract
Background and Aims
From 2019 till the present, infections induced by the novel coronavirus and its mutations have posed a new challenge for healthcare. However, comparative studies on pediatric infections throughout waves are few. During four different pandemic waves, we intended to investigate the clinical and epidemiological characteristic of the pediatric population hospitalized for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‐CoV‐2) virus infection.
Methods
Between March 2020 and December 2021, we performed our retrospective research on children infected with the SARS‐CoV‐2 virus at the University of Szeged. We analyzed the data of all patients who required hospitalization due to positive results of SARS‐CoV‐2 tests (Nucleic Acid Amplification Test or rapid antigen test). Data analysis included demographic data, medical history, clinical findings, length of hospitalization, and complications, using medical records.
Results
In this study, data from 358 coronavirus‐infected children were analyzed. The most affected age group was children over 1 month and under 1 year (30.2%). The highest number of cases was recorded in the fourth wave (53.6%). Fever (65.6%), cough (51.4%), nasal discharge (35.3%), nausea and vomiting (31.3%), and decreased oral intake (28.9%) were the most common symptoms. The most common complications were dehydration (50.5%), pneumonia (14.9%), and bronchitis/bronchiolitis (14.5%). Based on RR values, there are considerable differences in the prevalence of the symptoms and complications between the different age groups and waves. Cox proportional hazard model analyzes showed that fever and tachypnoea had a relevant effect on days to recovery.
Conclusions
We found trends similar to those previously published, overall statistics. The proportion of children requiring hospitalization varied from wave to wave, with the fourth wave affecting the Hungarian child population the most. Our findings suggest that hospitalization time is unrelated to age, but that certain symptoms (fever and tachypnoea) are associated with longer hospitalization. The onset of certain symptoms may differ by age group.
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