Prevalence and Course of SARS-CoV-2 Infection among Immunocompromised Children Hospitalised in the Tertiary Referral Hospital in Poland

The aim of this retrospective study was the assessment of the prevalence, clinical characteristics, and the comparison of the course of SARS-CoV-2 infection in children with and without immunodeficiency that were admitted to the COVID-19 Subunit of the tertiary referral hospital in Warsaw, Poland. We analysed 313 children hospitalised in the COVID-19 Subunit. The analysis was performed on the total study group and subgroups of children with and without immunodeficiency. In each group, clinical data and laboratory test results were analysed. Of the 68 children with isolated fevers, only seven (11.76%) were diagnosed with COVID-19, whereas among those with the accompanying features of respiratory or gastrointestinal infection, only one (3.23%) and ten (16.95%) patients tested positive, respectively. In both groups, the course of the infection was mainly asymptomatic or mild. The children with immunodeficiencies had lower white blood cell and lymphocyte counts, lower haemoglobin levels, and higher urea levels but did not differ in other biochemical variables. To conclude, the most frequently reported symptoms of COVID-19 indicate that this disease among children is only a small percentage. In both groups, the responses to the infection were comparable in terms of the mild clinical symptoms and the laboratory test results. Therefore, SARS-CoV-2 infection should not alter the chronic treatment of underlying diseases.