Evaluation Of Clinical, Laboratory And Radiological Findings In
Pediatric Covid-19 Cases And Their Relation With RT-PCR Result
Abstract
Background: The pandemic of the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19)
continues to be a major health problem globally. In this study, clinical
findings, radiological findings, laboratory findings and polymerase
chain reaction (PCR) test results were evaluated according to age groups
in pediatric patients with COVID-19. Methods: In this study, PCR (+) and
PCR (-) 278 cases diagnosed with COVID-19 between March 15, 2020 and
September 30, 2020 were assessed considering clinical symptoms,
radiological and laboratory findings and RT-PCR test results. Results:
43.9% of the cases consisted of RT-PCR (+) and 56.1% of RT-PCR (-)
cases. Fever was observed at the rate of 64.7%, cough 53.2%,
respiratory distress 12.2%, myalgia 24.5%, diarrhea 12.9%, chest
X-ray findings 48.2% and computed tomography findings 43.6%. Diarrhea
and cough, alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase,
leukocyte and lymphocyte elevation were determined as significantly
higher in younger age group cases, while high myalgia and neutrophilia
was observed in older age group children (p <0.05). Fever,
high CRP, leukocytosis frequency, high neutrophil, were significantly
higher in PCR(-) cases and the frequency of respiratory distress, high
lymphocyte and chest computed tomography findings in PCR(+) cases (p
<0.05). Conclusion: COVID-19 infection may indicate different
nonspecific clinical, laboratory and radiological findings in children
according to both adults and pediatric age groups. In addition, the
results of the PCR test may give erroneous results in cases due to
conditions such as fever, respiratory distress, high CRP, leukocytosis,
high neutrophil and CT finding. Keywords: pediatric, COVID-19, RT-PCR