Changing clinical characteristics of pediatric inpatients with pneumonia
during COVID-19 pandamic: a retrospective study
Abstract
Background: The COVID‐19 pandemic have impacts on the
prevalence of other [pathogen](javascript:;)s and people’s social
lifestyle. This study aimed to compare the [pathogen](javascript:;),
allergen and micronutrient characteristics of pediatric inpatients with
pneumonia prior to and during the COVID-19 pandemic in a large tertiary
hospital in Shanghai, China. Methods: Patients with pneumonia
admitted to the Department of Pediatric Pulmonology of Xinhua Hospital
between March-August 2019 and March-August 2020 were recruited. And
clinical characteristics of the patients in 2019 were compared with
those in 2020. Results: Hospitalizations for pneumonia
decreased by 74% after the COVID-19 pandemic. For
[pathogen](javascript:;)s, virus, mycoplasma pneumoniae (MP) and
mixed infection rates were all much lower in 2020 than those in 2019 (
P < 0.01). Regarding allergens, compared with 2019, the
positive rates of house dust mite, shrimp and crab were significantly
higher in 2020 ( P < 0.01). And for micronutrients, the
levels of vitamin B2, B6, C and 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) in 2020
were observed to be significantly lower than those in 2019 ( P
< 0.05). For all the study participants, longer hospital stay
(OR = 1.521, P = 0.000), milk allergy (OR = 6.552, P =
0.033) and [calcium](javascript:;) (Ca) insufficiency (OR = 12.048,
P = 0.019) were identified as high-risk factors for severe
pneumonia by multivariate analysis. Conclusions: The number of
children hospitalized with pneumonia and incidence of common pathogen
infections were both reduced, and that allergy and micronutrient status
in children were also changed after the outbreak of the COVID-19
pandemic.