July 28, 2020

Clinical Characteristics of Children With COVID-19: A Meta-Analysis

Category: Article Summary

Topic: Clinical Characteristics and Health Care Setting

• A meta-analysis (14 studies and 371 patients) of COVID-19 in children found that 17% (95% CI 9-27) are asymptomatic (fever is the most common symptom), 67% (95%CI 51-81) were diagnosed with pneumonia, and incidence of severe or critical illness is close to 0% (95% CI 0-1). Of those diagnosed with pneumonia, 54% (95%CI 38-69) had ground-glass opacities detected on CT scan. An additional 19% were asymptomatic but had radiological features of pneumonia. Most of the included studies were case reports or case series from China. The authors also note this meta-analysis found a higher proportion of asymptomatic children than most studies from the US and Europe, which may reflect differences in testing policies.  

Ding et al. (2020). Clinical Characteristics of Children With COVID-19: A Meta-Analysis. Frontiers in Pediatrics. https://doi.org/10.3389/fped.2020.00431