Table 1.
Epidemiological and clinical features of paediatric patients with COVID-19 stratified by two clinical types
| Total (n=36) | Mild cases (n=17) | Moderate cases (n=19) | p value* | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Epidemiological data | |||||
| Female patients | 13 (36%) | 7 (41%) | 6 (32%) | 0·70 | |
| Male patients | 23 (64%) | 10 (59%) | 13 (68%) | .. | |
| Age, years (SD, range) | 8·3 (3·5, 1–16) | 7·5 (3·2, 1–16) | 9·0 (3·6, 3–16) | 0·099 | |
| Age ≤5 years | 10 (28%) | 8 (80%) | 2 (20%) | .. | |
| History of exposure to epidemic area | 12 (33%) | 5 (29%) | 7 (37%) | 0·70 | |
| Family members with COVID-19 | 32 (89%) | 16 (94%) | 16 (84%) | 0·60 | |
| Symptoms | |||||
| Dry cough | 7 (19%) | 3 (18%) | 4 (21%) | .. | |
| Dyspnoea or tachypnoea | 1 (3%) | .. | 1 (5%) | .. | |
| Pharyngeal congestion | 1 (3%) | 1 (6%) | .. | .. | |
| Sore throat | 2 (6%) | 1 (6%) | 1 (5%) | .. | |
| Vomiting or diarrhoea | 2 (6%) | .. | 2 (10%) | .. | |
| Body temperature, °C | 37·8 (0·4) | 37·6 (0·3) | 38·0 (0·4) | 0·0020 | |
| Fever (body temperature >37°C) | 13 (36%) | 4 (24%) | 9 (47%) | .. | |
| Headache | 3 (8%) | 1 (6%) | 2 (10%) | .. | |
| Laboratory tests (reference values) | |||||
| White blood cells (4–10 × 109 cells per L) | 6·1 (2·1) | 6·5 (2·3) | 5·8 (1·9) | 0·32 | |
| Decreased (n) | 7 | 2 | 5 | .. | |
| Lymphocytes (1·1–3·2 × 109 cells per L) | 2·4 (0·8) | 2·8 (1·0) | 2·0 (0·7) | 0·0083 | |
| Decreased (n) | 11 | 2 | 9 | .. | |
| Procalcitonin (<0·5 ng/mL) | 0·24 (0·17) | 0·15 (0·13) | 0·32 (0·19) | 0·0039 | |
| Increased (n) | 6 | 1 | 5 | .. | |
| C-reactive protein (<8 mg/L) | 5 (2) | 4 (1) | 5 (2) | 0·072 | |
| Increased (n) | 1 | 0 | 1 | .. | |
| D-dimer (<0·5 μg/mL) | 0·29 (0·20) | 0·21 (0·18) | 0·36 (0·21) | 0·028 | |
| Increased (n) | 3 | 1 | 2 | .. | |
| Erythrocyte sedimentation rate (0–20 mm/h) | 7 (2) | 6 (2) | 7 (2) | 0·14 | |
| Increased (n) | 0 | 0 | 0 | .. | |
| Creatine kinase (55–170 U/L) | 96 (47) | 80 (44) | 110 (56) | 0·085 | |
| Increased (n) | 1 | 0 | 1 | ||
| Creatine kinase MB (<18 U/L) | 19 (10) | 14 (9) | 24 (12) | 0·0084 | |
| Increased (n) | 11 | 4 | 7 | .. | |
| Alanine aminotransferase (<40 U/L) | 21 (14) | 21 (12) | 20 (13) | 0·82 | |
| Increased (n) | 2 | 2 | 0 | .. | |
| Aspartate transferase (<40 U/L) | 30 (11) | 32 (10) | 28 (11) | 0·26 | |
| Increased (n) | 3 | 2 | 1 | .. | |
| Creatinine (40–110 μmol/L) | 56 (12) | 58 (11) | 54 (13) | 0·32 | |
| Increased (n) | 0 | 0 | 0 | .. | |
| Blood urea nitrogen (3–7 mmol/L) | 3·8 (0·5) | 3·7 (0·4) | 3·9 (0·5) | 0·20 | |
| Increased (n) | 0 | 0 | 0 | .. | |
| Oxygen saturation (92–100%) | 98·1 (0·4) | 98·2 (0·3) | 98 (0·3) | 0·054 | |
| Decreased (n) | 0 | 0 | 0 | .. | |
| Radiography | |||||
| Pulmonary ground-glass opacities | 19 (53%) | .. | 19 (100%) | .. | |
| Treatment | |||||
| Oxygen inhalation | 6 (17%) | 1 (6%) | 5 (26%) | .. | |
| Interferon alfa | 36 (100%) | 17 (100%) | 19 (100%) | .. | |
| Lopinavir–ritonavir | 14 (39%) | 2 (12%) | 12 (63%) | .. | |
| Time taken to become SARS-CoV-2 PCR-negative, days (SD, range) | 10 (2, 7–22) | 9 (2, 7–12) | 11 (2, 8–22) | 0·0050 | |
| Duration of fever after admission, days (SD, range)† | 3 (2, 2–5) | 2 (2, 2–4) | 3 (2, 2–5) | 0·14 | |
| Duration of hospitalisation, days (SD, range) | 14 (3, 10–20) | 12 (3, 10–16) | 15 (4, 12–20) | 0·017 | |
Data are n (%) or mean (SD), unless otherwise indicated. COVID-19=coronavirus disease 2019. SARS-CoV-2=severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2.
*
p values indicate the difference between paediatric patients with mild clinical type (asymptomatic or upper respiratory infection) and those with moderate clinical type with pneumonia.
†
Data for 13 patients.