COVID‐19 in healthy children: What is the effect of household contact?

Ustundag, Gulnihan; Yilmaz‐Ciftdogan, Dilek; Kara‐Aksay, Ahu; Sahin, Aslihan; Ekemen‐Keles, Yildiz; Orsdemir‐Hortu, Hacer; Kanik, Muhammet Ali; Yuksel, Necmi Can; Aslan, Fatma Demet; Ozkalay‐Yilmaz, Nisel

BACKGROUND: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) in children is milder compared with adults. It is considered that household virus exposure may affect clinical severity. We aimed to determine the household contact history of patients and its influence on the clinical stage. METHODS: One hundred seventy‐three pediatric patients with COVID‐19 as diagnosed with positive real‐time polymerase chain reaction for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus‐2 aged one month to 18 years were included. Demographic data, laboratory and clinical findings, and the history of household contact (with or without) of the patients were obtained. They were classified according to their clinical stage as mild or moderate‐severe. RESULTS: Sixty patients (34.7%) were asymptomatic, and 113 were symptomatic (65.3%). Of the 173 patients, 138 (79.8%) had at least one family member in the household who was diagnosed as having COVID‐19. Hemoglobin, absolute neutrophil count (ANC), and ANC/absolute lymphocyte count ratio decreased significantly in patients with household contact. The presence of a household contact had not significant effect on the presence of symptoms, clinical course, age, and the sex of the patients. The need for hospitalization was less in the group that had household contact. Being 0‐12 months and female sex, and the patients without household contact were independent factors associated with higher hospitalization ratios in logistic regression analysis. CONCLUSIONS: In this study, we found that household contact history did not significantly affect presenting symptoms and clinical course. We detected the rate of hospitalization to be less in the group with only household contact.