Percentage of pediatric COVID-19 patients who experience severe outcomes minimal: global study
A global study of young people who contracted COVID-19 has determined approximately three per cent of the patients developed severe outcomes within two weeks of their emergency room visit.
The study — co-led by researchers at the University of Calgary's Cumming School of Medicine as well as the Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago and University of California-Davis Medical Center —charted the outcomes of 3,221 positive pediatric cases around the world from March 2020 through June 2021.
Within the first two weeks of testing positive at one of 41 emergency departments in North America, Europe, Asia or Australia, 735 of the patients (23 per cent) were admitted for treatment and 107 (three per cent) experienced severe outcomes including cardiac complications, myocarditis, respiratory problems, or neurological concerns. Four of the patients died.
"The study sought to quantify the frequency of and risk factors for severe outcomes in children with COVID-19," said study co-lead Dr. Stephen Freedman, a pediatrician and professor at the Cumming School of Medicine. "We found that older age, having a pre-existing chronic condition and symptom duration were important risk factors for severe outcomes."
The study found the greatest risk was experienced in patients who:
- Were five years of age or older;
- Had a pre-existing chronic illness;
- Had a previous episode of pneumonia; or,
- Arrived in hospital four to seven days after the onset of COVID-19 symptoms.
Researchers found the COVID-19 pediatric patients who were considered healthy at the time of their initial emergency visit were extremely unlikely to deteriorate in health post-diagnosis. Fewer that one per cent (0.5 per cent) of the 2,510 COVID-19 positive youth who were not hospitalized experienced severe outcomes within two weeks of leaving the emergency department.
The Outcomes of SARS-CoV-2-Positive Youths Tested in Emergency Departments study has been published to the JAMA Network Open.
Correction
The original headline of this story indicated a percentage of pediatric COVID-19 patients who experienced severe outcomes without mentioning that the study collected data only from patients who visit an emergency department.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Canada's most wanted fugitive arrested in P.E.I. in connection with Toronto homicide
A suspect in a fatal shooting in Toronto’s east end last summer has been arrested in Charlottetown, just one week after he topped a list of Canada’s most wanted fugitives.
BREAKING Federal employees will be required to spend 3 days a week in the office
Starting in September, public servants in the core public administration will be required to work in the office a minimum of three days a week. The Treasury Board Secretariat says executives will need to be in the office four days per week.
Concerns about plexiglass prompt inspections at some Loblaws locations in Ottawa
Inspections are underway at more than one Loblaws location in Ottawa after complaints were filed about tall plexiglass barriers.
OPP officer said 'someone's going to get hurt' before wrong-way Hwy. 401 crash
As multiple Durham police cruisers were chasing a robbery suspect on the wrong side of Highway 401 Monday night, an Ontario Provincial Police officer shared his concerns, telling a dispatcher, "Someone's going to get hurt."
Poilievre unrepentant over calling Trudeau 'wacko' as his MPs say Speaker should resign
An unrepentant Pierre Poilievre returned to the House of Commons on Wednesday to pepper the prime minister about his drug decriminalization policies after being booted the day prior for refusing to take back calling Justin Trudeau 'wacko' over his approach to the issue.
Five human skeletons, missing hands and feet, found outside house of Nazi leader Hermann Göring
Archeologists have unearthed the skeletons of five people, missing their hands and feet, at a former Nazi military base in Poland.
Toddler of Phoenix first responder dies after bounce house goes airborne
A two-year-old child died after a strong gust of wind sent the bounce house he was in airborne and into a neighbouring lot in central Arizona, the Pinal County Sheriff's Office said.
Plane overshoots runway at airport in St. John's, N.L., no injuries reported
Investigators from the Transportation Safety Board of Canada are headed to St. John's, N.L., after a plane overshot a runway at the city's airport this afternoon.
A teen was found buried in a basement in New York. An engraved ring helped police learn her identity two decades later
For more than two decades, the unknown victim was nicknamed "Midtown Jane Doe" because she was found in the Hell's Kitchen neighbourhood of New York City. But this week, investigators finally revealed her identity.