Clinical, laboratory, and chest CT features of severe versus non-severe pediatric patients with COVID-19 infection among different age groups

BACKGROUND: This study was performed with the intention of comparing the clinical, laboratory, and chest computed tomography (CT) findings between severe and non-severe patients as well as between different age groups composed of pediatric patients with confirmed COVID-19. METHOD: This study was carried out on a total of 53 confirmed COVID-19 pediatric patients who were hospitalized in Namazi and Ali Asghar Hospitals, Shiraz, Iran. The patients were divided into two severe (n = 27) and non-severe (n = 28) groups as well as into other three groups in terms of their age: aged less than two years, aged 3–12 years and 13–17 years. It should be noted that CT scans, laboratory, and clinical features were taken from all patients at the admission time. Abnormal chest CT in COVID-19 pneumonia was found to show one of the following findings: ground-glass opacities (GGO), bilateral involvement, peripheral and diffuse distribution. RESULT: Fever (79.2%) and dry cough (75.5%) were the most common clinical symptoms. Severe COVID-19 patients showed lymphocytosis, while the non-severe ones did not (P = 0.03). C-reactive protein (CRP) was shown to be significantly lower in patients aged less than two years than those aged 3–12 and 13–17 years (P = 0.01). It was shown also that O(2) saturation experienced a significant increase as did patients’ age (P = 0.01). Severe patients had significantly higher CT abnormalities than non-severe patients (48.0% compared to 17.9%, respectively) (P = 0.02). CONCLUSION: Lymphocytosis and abnormal CT findings are among the factors most associated with COVID-19 severity. It was, moreover, showed that the severity of COVID-19, O(2) saturation, and respiratory distress were improved as the age of confirmed COVID-19 pediatric patients increased.