COVID-19 bei Kindern und Jugendlichen mit chronischen Lungenerkrankungen: Klinische Erfahrungen und Perspektiven

BACKGROUND: At the beginning of the SARS-CoV‑2 pandemic the focus of attention was on children and adolescents with chronic lung diseases. Due to a lack of epidemiological data and clinical experience, it was feared that children with respiratory diseases were a risk group for particularly severe courses of COVID-19, as has been reported for adults. OBJECTIVE: The currently available (epidemiological) data on this patient group are presented as well as a description of our own experiences based on three selected cases. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A review of the literature was carried out and three selected case reports and a discussion of current recommendations are presented. RESULTS: The incidence of COVID-19 is significantly lower in children than in adults. Furthermore, the known risk factors in adults cannot be simply transferred to pediatric patients. In the majority of cases, children and adolescents with chronic lung diseases show a milder course of SARS-CoV‑2 infections. CONCLUSION: Although the hitherto available data show that children and adolescents have a lower risk for COVID-19 courses than adults, it should not be ignored that fatal outcomes have also been reported in pediatric patients. Moreover, late effects, such as the pediatric inflammatory multisystem syndrome (PIMS) can sometimes lead to a fatal outcome. Nevertheless, care must be taken that this vulnerable patient group does not suffer from avoidable negative side effects of restriction and isolation measures. As an example, the no-show behavior in outpatient departments during the lockdown might have led to a relevant undertreatment of underlying chronic health conditions.