COVID-19 in Hospitalized Ethiopian Children: Characteristics and Outcome Profile

Leulseged, T. W.; Hassen, I. S.; Maru, E. H.; Zewde, W. C.; Chamiso, N. W.; Edo, M. G.; Abebe, D. S.; Aliy, M. A.

Background: Considering the number of people affected and the burden to the health care system due to the Coronavirus pandemic, there is still a gap in understanding the disease better leaving a space for new evidence to be filled by researchers. This scarcity of evidence is observed especially among children with the virus. Understanding the disease pattern and its effect among children is vital in providing timely and targeted intervention. Aim: To assess the characteristics and outcome profile of 115 RT-PCR confirmed children with COVID-19, and to determine the presence of significant difference in disease severity and survival distribution between groups among children admitted to Millennium COVID-19 Care Center in Ethiopia. Methods: A prospective cohort study was conducted among 90 consecutively admitted eligible RT-PCR confirmed COVID-19 children from end of June to mid September, 2020. Frequency tables, KM plots, median survival times and Log-rank test were used to describe the data and compare survival distribution between groups. A chi-square test/ Fischer exact test were used to determine the presence of a significant difference between the independent variables and disease severity. A statistically significant difference was detected for variables with a P-value of [≤] 0.05. Survival experience of different groups was compared using KM survival curves. Log-rank test was used to assess the presence of significant difference among survival distributions of groups for equality where a statistically significant difference in survival distribution between groups was detected for variables with a P-value of [≤] 0.05. Results: From the 90 children, 67 (74.4%) achieved clinical improvement and 23 (25.6%) were censored. There was no death. The median time to clinical improvement was 14 days. The median age of the participants was 15 years and 63.3% of the participants were females. The commonest reported route of disease transmission was through close contact with a diagnosed person (45.6%). Only three (3.3%) had a history of pre-existing comorbid illness. More than a quarter (26.7%) had one or more symptoms at admission, the commonest being cough (22.2%). Seventy three (81.1%) of the patients had mild COVID-19 at admission and the rest (18.9%) had moderate disease. On the chi-square and Fischers exact test, children with one or more symptom at presentation (73.3% Vs 36.7%, p-value= 0.0001), fever (40.0 % Vs 60.0%, p-value=0.045), cough (20.0 % Vs 80.0%, p-value=0.0001), sore throat (44.4 % Vs 55.6%, p-value=0.011), and headache (44.4 % Vs 55.6%, p-value=0.011) were more likely to develop moderate COVID-19. On the log rank test, a significant difference in survival between groups was observed only for sex. A significantly longer time was needed for female patients to achieve clinical improvement compared to male patients (15 days Vs 14 days, p-value= 0.042). Conclusions: The average duration of time to clinical improvement was 14 days and 74.4% achieved clinical improvement. There was no death during the observation period. The pediatric patients seemed to have a milder disease presentation and a favorable outcome compared to other countries report and also the adult pattern observed in our country. Having particular symptom groups is associated with the development of moderate COVID-19. Being female seemed to delay the time to clinical improvement. Further multicenter study with a large sample size is recommended to reach at a better conclusion.