Existing drug treatments cannot significantly shorten the clinical cure time of children with COVID-19.

Li, Mengting; Wang, Yang; Xu, Hua; Liu, Changlin; Shi, Liang; Ye, Qi; Wang, Jun; Li, Sichan; Mei, Yan; Gao, Liuliu

INTRODUCTION COVID-19 has become a global health security issue, it has caused more than half a million deaths worldwide so far, the treatment strategies are the most concerned issues for clinicians. In this study, the treatments and outcomes in 40 pediatric patients diagnosed with COVID-19 and treated with different drugs were evaluated. METHODOLOGY All cases were diagnosed with COVID-19 nucleic acid positive by using RT-PCR or clinical manifestations, imaging specific characteristics and epidemiological clinical diagnosis. The biological information and first symptom of all cases were collect. A variety of treatments were employed and the outcomes were evaluated by Cox regression analysis. Multivariable analysis was performed to evaluate cure rate at 14 days with different drug treatment. RESULTS The average length of hospital stay was 10.4 days. The cure rate was increased with the treatment time extended and 90% of pediatric patients were cured and discharged after 14 days' treatment. And multivariable analysis results proved that none of the covariates were related to the cure rate at 14 days with different drug treatment since p values were over 0.05. CONCLUSIONS Multivariable analysis suggested that the present drug treatments cannot significantly shorten the clinical cure time and improve the cure rate of children with COVID-19.