Introduction: Respiratory viruses are among the leading causes of disease and death among children. Co-circulation of influenza and SARS-CoV2 can lead to diagnostic and management difficulties given the similarities in the clinical picture. Methods: This is a cohort of all children hospitalized with SARS-CoV2 infection from March to September 3rd 2020, and all children admitted with influenza throughout five flu-seasons (2013–2018) at a pediatric referral hospital. Patients with influenza were identified from the clinical laboratory database. All hospitalized patients with confirmed SARS-CoV2 infection were followed-up prospectively. Results: A total of 295 patients with influenza and 133 with SARS-CoV2 infection were included. The median age was 3.7 years for influenza and 5.3 years for SARS-CoV2. Comorbidities were frequent in both groups, but they were more common in patients with influenza (96.6 vs. 82.7%, p < 0.001). Fever and cough were the most common clinical manifestations in both groups. Rhinorrhea was present in more than half of children with influenza but was infrequent in those with COVID-19 (53.6 vs. 5.8%, p < 0.001). Overall, 6.4% percent of patients with influenza and 7.5% percent of patients with SARS-CoV2 infection died. In-hospital mortality and the need for mechanical ventilation among symptomatic patients were similar between groups in the multivariate analysis. Conclusions: Influenza and COVID-19 have a similar picture in pediatric patients, which makes diagnostic testing necessary for adequate diagnosis and management. Even though most cases of COVID-19 in children are asymptomatic or mild, the risk of death among hospitalized patients with comorbidities may be substantial, especially among infants.
【저자키워드】 COVID-19, Influenza, children, outcome, SARS – CoV – 2, clinical chracteristics, 【초록키워드】 SARS-CoV2, Hospitalized, Mortality, mechanical ventilation, pediatric, hospital, diagnostic, Diagnosis, Comorbidity, cough, virus, database, SARS-CoV2 infection, Laboratory, Infants, Cohort, Asymptomatic, clinical picture, management, Pediatric patients, Patient, death, Mild, respiratory, group, disease, Analysis, similarity, clinical manifestation, risk of death, median age, FIVE, died, hospitalized patient, cause, in both groups, patients with influenza, symptomatic patient, with COVID-19, 【제목키워드】 clinical, Mexico City,