TY - JOUR
T1 - SARS-CoV-2 infections in pediatric patients
T2 - A comparison of three pandemic waves
AU - Rovida, Francesca
AU - Giardina, Federica
AU - Ferrari, Guglielmo
AU - Paolucci, Stefania
AU - Piralla, Antonio
AU - Baldanti, Fausto
N1 - Funding Information:
This study was supported by “Ricerca Finalizzata” from the Ministry of Health, Italy (grant COVID‐2020‐12371817).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 The Authors. Pediatric Allergy and Immunology published by European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
PY - 2022/1
Y1 - 2022/1
N2 - The pediatric population seems to be at a lower risk of developing severe clinical symptoms of COVID-19. However, the clinical and epidemiological characteristics of COVID-19 in children are yet to be fully clarified. This retrospective observational study aimed to evaluate the frequency of pediatric laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 patients from February 2020 to April 2021. A total of 740 (5.1% of total) pediatric COVID-19 cases were observed during the study period. The peak of pediatric cases was observed in November 2020, with 239 cases. During the first wave of pandemics, the frequency of pediatric cases was 0.89% (49/5877 cases), ranging from 0.6% in February 2020 to 1.3% in April 2020. On the contrary, after the beginning of the second wave, the frequency of pediatric cases raised from 5.3% in September 2020 to 9.4%in February 2021, with an overall frequency of 8.2% (690/8416 cases). A different rate of SARS-CoV-2 circulation was observed among the pediatric population between the pandemic waves. During the second wave, two peaks of cases were observed. The last peak was associated with the spread of a more transmissive SARS-CoV-2 strain (VOC 202012/01).
AB - The pediatric population seems to be at a lower risk of developing severe clinical symptoms of COVID-19. However, the clinical and epidemiological characteristics of COVID-19 in children are yet to be fully clarified. This retrospective observational study aimed to evaluate the frequency of pediatric laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 patients from February 2020 to April 2021. A total of 740 (5.1% of total) pediatric COVID-19 cases were observed during the study period. The peak of pediatric cases was observed in November 2020, with 239 cases. During the first wave of pandemics, the frequency of pediatric cases was 0.89% (49/5877 cases), ranging from 0.6% in February 2020 to 1.3% in April 2020. On the contrary, after the beginning of the second wave, the frequency of pediatric cases raised from 5.3% in September 2020 to 9.4%in February 2021, with an overall frequency of 8.2% (690/8416 cases). A different rate of SARS-CoV-2 circulation was observed among the pediatric population between the pandemic waves. During the second wave, two peaks of cases were observed. The last peak was associated with the spread of a more transmissive SARS-CoV-2 strain (VOC 202012/01).
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U2 - 10.1111/pai.13642
DO - 10.1111/pai.13642
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85123599376
SN - 0905-6157
VL - 33
SP - 93
EP - 95
JO - Pediatric Allergy and Immunology
JF - Pediatric Allergy and Immunology
IS - S27
ER -