Doses and radiation risk of the chest x-ray examination of children with COVID-19

Abstract

The aim of the study was to assess the effective doses and radiation risks of children for X-ray and CT examinations during the diagnosis and treatment of COVID-19, as well as to analyze the dependence of the number of examinations and the total radiation risk for one patient on the severity of the disease. The study used the data of X-ray studies of 71 children admitted to the clinic of the St-Petersburg State Pediatric Medical University with suspicions of COVID-19, 58 children of them underwent 104 X-ray examinations, and 30 CT scans were taken for 22 children. One patient could undergo both several of the same type, as well as a combination of X-ray and CT examinations. The median values of the effective dose for X-ray chest examinations for all age groups are in the range of 0.09-0.13 mSv. The highest values are observed in the 0-4 age group. Effective doses for chest CT scan were 3.21 mSv and 4.68 mSv for groups 5-9 and 15-19 years old, respectively. For X-ray studies for women it ranges from 12.73•10-6 to 27.62•10-6, for men from 2.5•10−6 to 5.52•10-6. The minimum corresponds to the age group 10-14 years old, and the maximum – to the group 0-4 years old. For CT, the risk increases with age from 425.97•10-6 for the 5-9-year group to 434.37•10−6 for 15-19 years. The current study has not received sufficient grounds to assert that the severity of the course of the disease is associated with radiation risks from the performed CT examinations.