This observational retrospective cohort study examines factors associated with hospitalization and/or critical care among 177 pediatric and young adult SARS-CoV-2 infected patients who were treated between March 15 and April 30, 2020 at the Children’s National Hospital in Washington DC.
The main findings included:
- Of the 177 patients, 44/177 patients (25%) required hospitalization, of which 35/44 (80%) were non-critically ill and 9/44 (20%) were critically-ill
- Children and young adults from all age groups were infected by SARS CoV-2, with a median age of 9.6 years (range 0.1-34.2 years of age)
- To date, no deaths have been reported
- Children <1 year and adolescents young adults >15 years of age were more likely to be hospitalized (P = .07).
- Adolescents/young adults were the most likely to require critical care (P = .02), including intubation and mechanical ventilation, BiPAP and high-flow nasal cannula
- 39% of infected patients had underlying conditions, with asthma being the most common
- Hospitalized and critically ill patients were more likely to have underlying conditions
- Approximately 55% overall, 37% of hospitalized and 22% of critically ill patients had no underlying conditions
