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CC BY 4.0 · Journal of Child Science 2021; 11(01): e93-e99
DOI: 10.1055/s-0041-1729630
Original Article

Should We Perform Laboratory and Radiographic Evaluations for All Children with COVID-19?: A Single-Center Experience

Mehmet Karaci
1   Department of Pediatrics, Prof. İlhan Varank Sancaktepe Training and Research Hospital, Istanbul, Turkey
,
Şirin Güven
2   Department of Pediatrics, University of Health Science, Prof. Ilhan Varank Sancaktepe Training and Research Hospital, Istanbul, Turkey
,
Aysun Boğa
1   Department of Pediatrics, Prof. İlhan Varank Sancaktepe Training and Research Hospital, Istanbul, Turkey
,
Fatih Varol
3   Division of PICU, Department of Pediatrics, Prof. Ilhan Varank Sancaktepe Training and Research Hospital, Istanbul, Turkey
,
Sümeyra Çalışkan
1   Department of Pediatrics, Prof. İlhan Varank Sancaktepe Training and Research Hospital, Istanbul, Turkey
,
Ezgi Nafile Sayman
1   Department of Pediatrics, Prof. İlhan Varank Sancaktepe Training and Research Hospital, Istanbul, Turkey
,
Gözde Ercan
1   Department of Pediatrics, Prof. İlhan Varank Sancaktepe Training and Research Hospital, Istanbul, Turkey
,
Beril Kara
4   Department of Public Health, Cerrahpasa Faculty of Medicine, Istanbul University– Cerrahpasa, Istanbul, Turkey
,
Halit Çam
3   Division of PICU, Department of Pediatrics, Prof. Ilhan Varank Sancaktepe Training and Research Hospital, Istanbul, Turkey
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Abstract

Background The diagnostic and treatment strategies for children are limited because of the small number of children with COVID-19. A large proportion of infected children are asymptomatic or have mild symptoms. We report our experience regarding clinical characteristics, laboratory, radiologic findings, and outcomes of children with COVID-19.

Materials and Methods This retrospective single-center study was conducted on children with COVID-19. The data on epidemiologic characteristics, clinical features, laboratory, and radiologic findings of patients were extracted from the hospital information management system records, and patients' forms filled upon admission.

Results The median age of children was 121 months, 46.8% of the patients were females and 53.2% were males. Of the 581 children assessed, a total of 222 (38.2%) had positive test results; 69 of them (31.1%) were asymptomatic. The median absolute lymphocyte and eosinophil counts were statistically significantly lower in symptomatic children (p = 0.001; p = 0.02). Neutrophil lymphocyte ratio was statistically significantly higher in the symptomatic children (p = 0.001). Of 72 computed tomography scans, 35 (48.6%) were normal, and only 29 (40%) were consistent with classic/probable/indeterminate COVID-19 predominant pattern.

Conclusion Our results showed a few laboratory abnormalities in asymptomatic polymerase chain reaction positive children; therefore, unnecessary investigation might be avoided and clinicians should consider clinical symptoms.

Keywords

children - COVID-2019 - clinical features

Note

Approval was received from the Ethical Committee of the institution (B.10.1.TKH.4.34.H.GP.0.0.1/139).




Publication History

Received: 28 November 2020

Accepted: 16 March 2021

Article published online:
01 June 2021

© 2021. The Author(s). This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, permitting unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction so long as the original work is properly cited. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

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