COVID-19: Children Comparison with Adults Based on the Latest Data

Abstract

Background: The various clinical manifestations of COVID-19 have been reported. However, the differences in the clinical presentation between children and adults were unclear. Thus, we aimed to investigate the differences in the clinical manifestations and imaging characteristics between children and adults with COVID-19 by systematically analyzing the data derived from some latest literatures. Methods: An extensive search of COVID-19 papers was conducted in PubMed and Chinese medical journal network, and relevant papers were selected based on some standard requirements. The included papers were analyzed for differences in clinical manifestation between children and adults with COVID-19 after the quality evaluation with the QUADAS-2 tool. The differences in the clinical features and CT findings were analyzed using a Pearson χ 2 test or Fisher's exact test. Patients who underwent CT examination were divided into the initial examination (0-4days) and follow-up examination groups (5-14 days). Findings: A total of 314 patients (39 children and 275 adults) with RT- PCR (+) were included in our study including 4 papers for child and 5 papers for adult groups. The significant differences between children and adults were found in exposure history ( p<0.001, χ2 = 144.049), fever ( p=,0.009, χ2 = 6.907), white cell count ( p < 0.001, χ2 = 12.156), and CT features in the initial ( p < 0.001, χ2 = 24.929) and follow-up stages ( p<0.001, χ2 = 52.924), and the involved lung in the follow-up stage ( p＜0.001, χ2 = 16.776). Interpretation: Some differences have been presented between children and adults with COVID-19, which are helpful in the management and protection of children with COVID-19. Funding Statement: 1. Hunan Science and Technology Department Plan Project (grant number. 2018XK2304, ChangSha, China). 2. Natural science foundation of Hunan province (grant number. 2018JJ2656, ChangSha, China) 3. China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (grant number: 2019M652807, Beijing, China) Declaration of Interests: The authors declare no competing interests.