Clinical Features and Laboratory Findings of COVID-19 in Children: A Tertiary Center Experience

Abstract

Objective: Despite increasing data on Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) in adults, the data in pediatric patients are still limited. The aim of our study is to evaluate the clinical features and laboratory findings of our confirmed pediatric COVID-19 cases. Methods: This retrospective descriptive study was conducted in one of the largest COVID-19 treatment centers in İstanbul, Turkey. Four hundred and fifty-six cases confirmed using reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) were included in the study. One hundred inpatients and 356 outpatients were treated. Patients were classified according to the disease severity as asymptomatic, mild, moderate and severe. Results: The number of asymptomatic, mild, moderate or severe cases were 199 (43.6%), 194 (42.5%), 33 (7.2%) and 30 (6.6%) respectively. Most of the hospitalized patients younger than 5 years old had the mild disease (67.7%), whereas most of the patients over 15 years of age had severe disease (54.2%). Lymphopenia and high ferritin levels at admission were more common in severe cases (p