Table 1.
Patient characteristics, rheumatic disease information, and main COVID-19 outcomes of 607 children and young people under the age of 19 years with COVID-19
| All patients | Not hospitalised | Hospitalised | ||
| N | 607 | 564 (93%*) | 43 (7%*) | |
| Dataset | EULAR COVID-19 Registry | 464 (76%) | 437 (77%) | 27 (63%) |
| CARRA Datasets (CARRA Registry and CARRA COVID-19 GPRD) | 143 (24%) | 127 (23%) | 16 (37%) | |
| Sex | Female | 399 (66%) | 369 (65%) | 30 (70%) |
| Male | 207 (34%) | 194 (34%) | 13 (30%) | |
| Unknown | 1 (<1%) | 1 (<1%) | 0 | |
| Age, years | Median (IQR) | 14 (9, 16) | 14 (10, 16) | 14 (8, 17) |
| Range | one to 18.9 | one to 18.9 | two to 18 | |
| Primary rheumatology diagnoses | Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis | 378 (62%) | 360 (64%) | 18 (42%) |
| Polyarticular | 139 (23%) | 137 (24%) | 2 (5%) | |
| Oligoarticular | 112 (18%) | 108 (19%) | 4 (9%) | |
| Systemic | 34 (6%) | 29 (5%) | 5 (12%) | |
| Psoriatic | 16 (3%) | 16 (3%) | 0 | |
| Enthesitis-related | 44 (7%) | 39 (7%) | 5 (12%) | |
| Other/Unknown | 33 (5%) | 31 (6%) | 2 (5%) | |
| SLE/MCTD/Vasculitis/Other RMD† | 87 (14%) | 73 (13%) | 14 (33%) | |
| Auto-inflammatory syndromes (eg, TRAPS, CAPS, FMF) | 78 (13%) | 71 (13%) | 7 (16%) | |
| Other‡ | 64 (11%) | 60 (11%) | 4 (9%) | |
| Comorbidities | None stated | 505 (83%) | 472 (84%) | 33 (77%) |
| Ocular inflammation | 38 (6%) | 36 (6%) | 2 (5%) | |
| Obesity (BMI ≥30) | 34 (6%) | 28 (5%) | 6 (14%) | |
| Asthma | 7 (1%) | 7 (1%) | 0 | |
| Disease activity | Remission | 194 (32%) | 178 (32%) | 16 (37%) |
| Low | 159 (26%) | 152 (27%) | 7 (16%) | |
| Moderate | 40 (7%) | 36 (6%) | 4 (9%) | |
| High | 6 (1%) | 3 (<1%) | 3 (7%) | |
| Unknown§ | 208 (34%) | 195 (35%) | 13 (30%) | |
| Confirmed or suspected | Confirmed | 499 (82%) | 465 (82%) | 34 (79%) |
| Suspected | 108 (18%) | 99 (18%) | 9 (21%) | |
| Most frequently reported symptoms | Asymptomatic | 140 (23%) | 137 (24%) | 3 (7%) |
| Fever | 236 (39%) | 203 (36%) | 33 (77%) | |
| Cough | 181 (30%) | 163 (29%) | 18 (42%) | |
| Rhinorrhoea | 111 (18%) | 105 (19%) | 6 (14%) | |
| Headache | 107 (18%) | 96 (17%) | 11 (26%) | |
| Anosmia | 105 (17%) | 104 (18%) | 1 (2%) | |
| Treatment at onset of COVID-19 infection | Any DMARD | 423 (70%) | 395 (70%) | 28 (65%) |
| csDMARD monotherapy | 143 (24%) | 132 (23%) | 11 (26%) | |
| b/tsDMARD monotherapy | 156 (26%) | 144 (26%) | 12 (28%) | |
| Combination therapy (cs and bDMARD) | 124 (20%) | 119 (21%) | 5 (12%) | |
| Any csDMARD | 267 (44%) | 251 (45%) | 16 (37%) | |
| Methotrexate | 198 (33%) | 189 (34%) | 9 (21%) | |
| Antimalarials | 48 (8%) | 40 (7%) | 8 (19%) | |
| Mycophenolate | 28 (5%) | 24 (4%) | 4 (9%) | |
| Cyclophosphamide | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Any b/tsDMARD | 280 (46%) | 263 (47%) | 17 (40%) | |
| Anti-TNF inhibitor | 200 (33%) | 193 (34%) | 7 (16%) | |
| IL-6 inhibitor | 30 (5%) | 27 (5%) | 3 (7%) | |
| IL-1 inhibitor | 19 (3%) | 15 (3%) | 4 (9%) | |
| Rituximab | 11 (2%) | 9 (2%) | 2 (5%) | |
| JAK inhibitor | 6 (1%) | 6 (1%) | 0 | |
| Glucocorticoids | 66 (11%) | 56 (10%) | 10 (24%) | |
| In combination with cs/btsDMARD | 56 (9%) | 49 (9%) | 7 (16%) | |
| Required hospitalisation | Yes | 43 (7%) | 0 | 43 (100%) |
| Required oxygen/ventilation | 8 (1%) | – | 8 (19%) | |
| None needed | 35 (6%) | – | 35 (81%) | |
| Deaths due to COVID-19¶ | 3 (<1%) | 0 | 3 (7%) |
*Row percentage.
†Other RMD includes: Behcet’s disease, inflammatory myopathy, systemic sclerosis, localised scleroderma.
‡Other includes: chronic recurrent multifocal osteomyelitis, sarcoidosis, ocular, ‘other’, or was left blank.
§94% of which are from the CARRA dataset and the EULAR French data subset.
¶Two deaths occurred in subjects who were diagnosed with SLE around the same time as COVID-19: one with SLE manifestations recognised at the time of COVID-19 presentation, one with SLE manifestations in the preceding 2 months.
BMI, body mass index; b/tsDMARD, biologic or targeted-synthetic DMARD; CAPS, cryopyrin-associated auto-inflammatory syndromes; CARRA, Childhood Arthritis and Rheumatology Research Alliance; csDMARDs, conventional-synthetic disease modifying anti-rheumatic drug; EULAR, European Alliance of Associations for Rheumatology; FMF, familial Mediterranean fever; GPRD, Global Paediatric Rheumatology Database; JAK, Janus-kinase; MCTD, mixed-connective tissue disease; RMD, rheumatic and musculoskeletal disease; SLE, systemic lupus erythematosus; TRAPS, tumour necrosis factor receptor-associated periodic syndrome.