Background During the second wave of COVID-19, there is an increasing incidence of reported cases in children compared to the early wave. Data on the clinical and laboratory characteristics of COVID-19 in children are evolving, and reports on the characteristics and outcomes of severe COVID-19 in children are still under evaluation. We aimed to describe the clinical, laboratory, and radiological characteristics and outcomes of children with COVID-19 infection admitted to the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU). Results The study included 27 children with COVID-19 infection. Fever, respiratory, and gastrointestinal (GIT) symptoms were predominant presenting symptoms in our patients. The median age of our patients was 9 months (2 m–12 years). Comorbidity was reported in 59.3%. The typical laboratory findings were leukocytosis, lymphopenia, elevated C-reactive proteins levels, and elevated d-dimer levels. The most frequent radiological findings were ground-glass opacities in 100% of patients and bilateral findings in 96%, while cardiomegaly was found in 44% of patients. The multisystem inflammatory syndrome was reported in 33% of patients with GIT symptoms were the most frequent presenting symptoms. Myocarditis was reported in 22% of patients. The mortality rate in this cohort was 14.8%. On multivariate analysis, the only predictor of mortality was the development of MIS-C. Conclusions COVID-19 is more severe in children with comorbid conditions. Fever, respiratory and gastrointestinal (GIT) symptoms were predominant presenting symptoms. MIS-C is of increasing concern in children with high mortality rates. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s43088-021-00168-x.
【저자키워드】 COVID-19, multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children, Pediatric intensive care unit, 【초록키워드】 Mortality, intensive care, severe COVID-19, pediatric, children, Infection, C-reactive protein, Symptom, outcome, MIS-C, Laboratory, lymphopenia, ground-glass opacity, Cohort, Characteristics, Patient, second wave, laboratory characteristics, mortality rate, incidence, patients, Leukocytosis, Analysis, Inflammatory, presenting symptoms, presenting symptom, supplementary material, median age, syndrome, high mortality, comorbid conditions, radiological finding, radiological, Result, reported, elevated, predominant, children with COVID-19, 【제목키워드】 intensive care, pediatric, children, Laboratory, Characteristics, clinical, single-center, radiological,