Götzinger (2020)
COVID-19 in children and adolescents in Europe: a multinational, multicentre cohort study
https://doi.org/10.1016/s2352-4642(20)30177-2
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/s2352-4642(20)30177-2
Patient characteristics
Gender (Male vs. Female)
COVID-19 in children (severe/critical)
Odds ratio: 2.120 (1.060-4.210) Adjusted model

International

Prospective cohort study

Medical records

582

This multicentre cohort study involved 82 participating health-care institutions across 25 European countries, using a well established research network—the Paediatric Tuberculosis Network European Trials Group (ptbnet)—that mainly comprises paediatric infectious diseases specialists and paediatric pulmonologists. 582 individuals with PCR-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection were included in the final analyses. 454 (78%) were contributed by tertiary or quaternary health-care institutions, whereas 54 (9%) had been diagnosed in secondary and 74 (13%) in primary health-care settings.

The median age of the study population was 5·0 years (IQR 0·5–12·0), ranging from 3 days to 18 years. Age was non-normally distributed (W=0·8710; p<0·0001), with 170 (29%) participants younger than 12 months. The sex ratio was 1·15 males to every female. The most common source of infection was a parent, considered the index case in 324 (56%) individuals; for 24 (4%) individuals, the most probable index case was a sibling. In the remaining 234 (40%) individuals, the index case was a person outside of the immediate family or unknown. 363 (62%) individuals were admitted to hospital and 48 (8%) required admission to an ICU for additional support, corresponding to 13% of those admitted to hospital. Explored factors associated with need for intensive care unit (ICU) admission and initiation of drug treatment for COVID-19 using univariable analysis, and applied multivariable logistic regression with backwards stepwise analysis to further explore those factors significantly associated with ICU admission.

Median

24 Day


COVID-19 in children (severe/critical)

48

Admitted to ICU. 48 (8%) required admission to an ICU for additional support.


Patient characteristics

Gender

male sex

Female

Male


Odds ratio

2.120 (1.060-4.210)

No

Yes

Yes

Risk adjusted for Age, Sex, Pre-existing medical conditions, signs or symptoms of lower respiratory tract infection at presentation


none

Average

Yes