Abstract
Objective: The COVID-19 pandemic is an important cause of morbidity and
mortality, which has had a negative impact worldwide. Our aim was to
describe clinical findings and outcomes of SARS-CoV-2 viral infection
and Covid-19 disease cared for at a large pediatric tertiary care
hospital during the first year of the pandemic. Methods: Patients aged 1
month to 18 years who were diagnosed as having COVID-19 between March
2020 and April 2021 were included. The files of patients diagnosed with
covid-19 were reviewed retrospectively. Results: 467 children were
included in the study. There were 34 (7.3%) patients under one year of
age, 111 (23.8%) between 1-5 years, 98 (30.4%) between 5-10 years, 142
(30.4%) between 11-15 years, and 82 (17.6%) age over 15 years. Fever
(88.2%), vomiting (32.4%), and diarrhea (29.4%) in patients aged
under 1 year, sore throat (36.6%) in patients aged 11-15 years, and
dysgeusia (11%), anosmia (14.6%), headache (18.3%), malaise (40.8%),
myalgia (28%), and dyspnea (17.1%) in those aged over 15 years of age
were found significantly more common compared with the other age groups
(p<0.05). Thirty-five (7.5%) patients were asymptomatic, 365
(78.1%) had mild disease, 35 (7.5%) were moderate, 27 (5.8%) were
severe, and five (1.07%) were critical. Leukocyte count, erythrocyte
sedimentation rate, ferritin, and C-reactive protein values were
significantly higher in hospitalized patients. Four patients died during
the study period (0.8%, 4/467). Conclusion: While SARS-CoV-2 infection
may be asymptomatic and Covid-19 disease usually has a mild clinical
course, some children have severe disease or mortality.