The Outcome of Hospitalized Children with COVID-19 in a Referral Center in Yazd, Iran

As there is limited research on COVID-19 in children, and reports have indicated low adverse clinical outcomes and mortality rates, our team conducted this study to investigate the clinical outcomes in hospitalized children with COVID-19.  This historical cohort study included children aged 1 month to 18 years with COVID-19. They were admitted to a referral hospital in Yazd, Iran, over a year from February 2020. Demographic information such as age and sex, the length of hospitalization, and the reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test results were recorded. We also evaluated Patients' outcomes, including admission to the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU), need for mechanical ventilation, and mortality.  Our study included 94 patients, of which 52.1% were female and 29.8% were under one year old. Children aged 1-59 months accounted for more than half of the sample (53.2%). The most common symptoms reported were fever (85.1%), respiratory problems (47.9%), and gastrointestinal symptoms (46.8%). The mean duration of hospital stay was 6.4±5.7 days. About 38.3% of cases required admission to the PICU, and 11.7% needed mechanical ventilation. 75% of deaths occurred in children with confirmed COVID-19 who had an underlying disease. Moreover, respiratory distress at the time of referral was significantly associated with admission to the intensive care unit (P=0.008), requiring mechanical ventilation (P=0.003), and mortality (P=0.02). Our findings suggest that children under one year old, patients with underlying diseases, and those experiencing respiratory distress at the time of referral are high-risk groups and require special attention in care and treatment.