Clinical impact of COVID-19 on Turkish children with neurological and neuromuscular diseases: One center experience.

Abstract

This study aims to explore the effects of new type of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in children with neurological and/or neuromuscular diseasesA retrospective study was conducted at State Hospital of Denizli. Pediatric patients diagnosed with COVID-19 who were hospitalized between March 18, 2020 and January 18, 2021 were included in the study. Children were divided into two groups: those with (group I) and without neurological and /or neuromuscular disorders (group II).Male cases were more than female cases in group I. The difference between group I and group II was significant in terms of seizure (47.3%; 1.7%), dyspnea (36.8%, 6.2%) and number of days with fever (2.6 ± 1.9; 1.58 ± 1.42) (P < .01, P < .01, P = .02). Hypoxemia (7, 11; 36.8%, 4.5%) and abnormal auscultation findings (8, 44; 42.1%, 18.1%) were more common in children in group I, hypertension was more common in group II (0, 8; 0%, 3.3%). Lung involvement of COVID-19 was found to be more severe in group I (P = .04). The frequency of hospitalization in the intensive care unit (P < .01) and application of noninvasive mechanical ventilation (NIMV) (P < .01); the number of days followed-up in the intensive care (P < .01) and in the hospital (P = .02) of the patients in group I were higher than those in group II.It is recognized that children with underlying neurological and/or neuromuscular diseases are severely affected by COVID-19.