Citation Information :
Singh P, Singh SN, Singh K, Yadav AK, Mehta A, Singh VK, Sharma B. Epidemiological and Clinical Features among COVID-19-positive Children in Eastern Uttar Pradesh (India): An Observational Study. Pediatr Inf Dis 2024; 6 (3):73-79.
Aim and background: The COVID-19 pandemic has been studied extensively in the adult population; however, information regarding epidemiological and clinical characteristics in pediatric patients is meager. The study presented in this research article aims to analyze some clinical features of COVID-19-positive children in eastern Uttar Pradesh, India.
Materials and methods: An observational study was carried out involving 97 children admitted at BRD Medical College, Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh, India. The basic parameters involved in the study included age, gender, presence and number of symptoms, oxygen saturation levels at the time of admission, and geographic origin of the patients.
Results: The study revealed that a considerable proportion of pediatric patients were asymptomatic (30.93%). Cases reported from rural populations were higher (54.64%) compared to urban regions (45.36%) of the study area. The majority of children (71.13%) maintained oxygen saturation levels above 95% at the time of admission, suggesting mild respiratory involvement.
Conclusion: The study highlighted the varied clinical presentations of COVID-19 in children, necessitating targeted public health measures and surveillance across different geographical settings in eastern Uttar Pradesh.
Imdad K, Sahana M, Rana MJ, et al. A district-level susceptibility and vulnerability assessment of the COVID-19 pandemic's footprint in India. Spat Spatiotemporal Epidemiol 2021;36:100390. DOI: 10.1016/j.sste.2020.100390
Li B, Zhang S, Zhang R, et al. Epidemiological and clinical characteristics of COVID-19 in children: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Front Pediatr 2020;8:591132. DOI: 10.3389/fped.2020.591132
Laxminarayan R, Wahl B, Dudala SR, et al. Epidemiology and transmission dynamics of COVID-19 in two Indian states. Science 2020;370(6517):691–697. DOI: 10.1126/science.abd7672
Kaul D. An overview of coronaviruses including the SARS-2 coronavirus–molecular biology, epidemiology and clinical implications. Curr Med Res Pract 2020;10(3):135. DOI: 10.1016/j.cmrp.2020.05.012
Ali AS, Al-Hakami AM, Shati AA, et al. Salient conclusive remarks on epidemiology and clinical manifestations of pediatric COVID-19: narrative review. Front Pediatr 2020;8:584694. DOI: 10.3389/fped.2020.584694
Adedeji IA, Abdu YM, Bashir MF, et al. Profile of children with COVID-19 infection: a cross sectional study from North-East Nigeria. Pan Afr Med J 2020;35(Suppl 2):145. DOI: 10.11604/pamj.supp.2020.35.145.25350
Mehta NS, Mytton OT, Mullins EW, et al. SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19): what do we know about children? A systematic review. Clin Infect Dis 2020;71(9):2469–2479. DOI: 10.1093/cid/ciaa556
Ravindra K, Malik VS, Padhi BK, et al. Asymptomatic infection and transmission of COVID-19 among clusters: systematic review and meta-analysis. Public Health 2022;203:100–109. DOI: 10.1016/j.puhe.2021.12.003
Alteri C, Scutari R, Costabile V, et al. Epidemiological characterization of SARS-CoV-2 variants in children over the four COVID-19 waves and correlation with clinical presentation. Sci Rep 2022;12(1):10194. DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-14426-0
Balasubramanian S, Rao NM, Goenka A, et al. Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in children-what we know so far and what we do not. Indian Pediatr 2020;57(5):435–442. DOI: 10.1007/s13312-020-1819-5
Kaushik S, Kaushik S, Sharma Y, et al. The Indian perspective of COVID-19 outbreak. Virusdisease. 2020;31(2):146–153. DOI: 10.1007/s13337-020-00587-x
Cascella M, Rajnik M, Aleem A, et al. Features, Evaluation, and Treatment of Coronavirus (COVID-19). StatPearls; 2023.
Jiang L, Tang K, Levin M, et al. COVID-19 and multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children and adolescents. Lancet Infect Dis 2020;20(11):e276–e288. DOI: 10.1016/S1473-3099(20)30651-4
de Souza WM, Buss LF, Candido DD, et al. Epidemiological and clinical characteristics of the COVID-19 epidemic in Brazil. Nat Hum Behav 2020;4(8):856–865. DOI: 10.1038/s41562-020-0928-4
Tabatabaii SA, Soltani P, Khanbabaee G, et al. SARS coronavirus 2, severe acute respiratory syndrome, and middle east respiratory syndrome in children: a review on epidemiology, clinical presentation, and diagnosis. Arch Pediatr Infect Dis 2020;8(4):1–8. DOI: 10.5812/apid.104860
Bandyopadhyay AR, Chatterjee D, Ghosh K, et al. COVID 19: an epidemiological and host genetics appraisal. Asian J Med Sci 2020;11(3):71–76. DOI: 10.3126/ajms.v11i3.28569
Ghosh A, Annigeri S, Hemram SK, et al. Clinico-demographic profile and predictors of intensive care need in children with respiratory syncytial virus-associated acute lower respiratory illness during its recent outbreak alongside ongoing COVID-19 pandemic: an eastern Indian perspective. Indian J Crit Care Med 2022;26(11):1210–1217. DOI: 10.5005/jp-journals-10071-24350
Rahman S, Montero MT, Rowe K, et al. Epidemiology, pathogenesis, clinical presentations, diagnosis and treatment of COVID-19: a review of current evidence. Exp Rev Clin Pharmacol 2021;14(5):601–621. DOI: 10.1080/17512433.2021.1902303
Gaythorpe KA, Bhatia S, Mangal T, et al. Children's role in the COVID-19 pandemic: a systematic review of early surveillance data on susceptibility, severity, and transmissibility. Sci Rep 2021;11(1):13903. DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-92500-9