Comparison of Clinical Characteristics and Outcomes of Pediatric and Adult Patients with Coronavirus Disease 2019 in Shenzhen, China*

OBJECTIVE: Here we aimed to investigate the difference in clinical characteristics and outcomes between pediatric and adult patients with COVID-19. METHODS: A total of 333 consecutive patients with laboratory-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection treated in the departments of Internal medicine of Shenzhen Third People’s Hospital from January 11(th) to February 10(th), 2020 were included. The data were obtained from electronic medical records. The epidemiological data, clinical characteristics, length of hospital stays, and outcomes of pediatric and adult patients were compared. RESULTS: Compared with adult patients, pediatric patients had a shorter time of symptom onset to hospitalization than adults [median time, 1 (IQR, 1.0–1.0) d vs. 3 (IQR, 2.0–6.0) d, P < 0.001], milder or fewer symptoms, less severe chest CT findings. The clinical severity classification of children was less severe than adults. Up to 15(th) March, the end of the follow-up, 33 (100%) children and 292 (97.3%) adult patients had been discharged from hospital. Only 2 (0.7%) adult patients died, with an overall case mortality of 0.6%. The median length of hospital stay of pediatric patients was shorter than that of adult patients [19 (95% CI: 16.6–21.4) d vs. 21 (95% CI: 19.9–22.1) d, P = 0.024]. CONCLUSION: Pediatric patients with COVID-19 had milder or less clinical symptoms, less evident pulmonary imaging changes, better prognosis, and shorter length of hospital stay.