Abstract
Objectives: This study aimed to evaluate factors associated with the risk of COVID-19 pneumonia in children (aged <10 years) and adolescents (aged 10-19 years) before (March 2020-April 2021) and during (May-July 2021) the Delta (B.1.617.2) variant emergence.
Study design: A retrospective and nationwide cohort study was conducted in Mexico.
Methods: Data from 26,961 laboratory-confirmed cases of COVID-19 were analyzed. Risk ratios (RRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were used to evaluate the association of the evaluated exposures with the risk of COVID-19 pneumonia.
Results: The overall incidence rate of pneumonia was 23.0 per 10,000 person-days, and it was lower during the Delta variant emergence (30.3 vs. 9.4 person-days, p < 0.001). In multiple analysis, a decreased risk of pneumonia was observed among those cases occurring in May 2021 or later (vs. March 2020-April 2021, RR = 0.98, 95% CI 0.97-0.99) and among older patients (RR per year = 0.998, 95% CI 0.996-0.998). Other comorbidities (namely, obesity, chronic kidney disease, diabetes mellitus, immunosuppression, or malignant tumors) were associated with an increased risk of severe COVID-19 manifestations.
Conclusions: Our findings suggest that during the Delta variant emergence, children and adolescent patients were at reduced risk of COVID-19 pneumonia in Mexico. Further research is needed to identify factors determining the observed scenario.
Keywords: Adolescent; COVID-19; Child; Pneumonia; SARS-CoV-2.
【저자키워드】 COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, Pneumonia, Child, Adolescent, 【초록키워드】 SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 pneumonia, children, obesity, variant, Diabetes Mellitus, Delta, B.1.617.2, Immunosuppression, Comorbidity, risk, Chronic kidney disease, diabetes, delta variant, cohort study, older patient, Child, Research, Patient, incidence rate, Kidney disease, Other, association, retrospective, Analysis, older patients, risk ratio, risk ratios, Factor, 95% CI, 95% confidence interval, increased risk, reduced risk, laboratory-confirmed, risk of COVID-19, malignant tumors, severe COVID-19 manifestations, analyzed, identify, evaluate, evaluated, conducted, were used, CIs, RRs, 【제목키워드】 children, delta variant, risk of COVID-19, Decreased,