Impacted Factors on Death in Children with COVID-19

Abstract

Background: The majority of children affected by coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) are thought to be asymptomatic, with a lower mortality rate than adults. Objectives: The aim of this study was to evaluate risk factors associated with mortality in children with COVID-19. Methods: In this study, all patients were under 19 years of age, and their COVID-19 was confirmed by RT-PCR analysis. Primary data were related to underlying diseases, clinical and laboratory information, mortality, or safe discharge. The recorded data were analyzed using SPSS software (version 18), taking into account the significance level of < 0.05. Results: Of the 183 children enrolled in the study, the mortality rate was 13.67%. The major risk factors for death were clinical manifestations involving central nervous system (CNS) diseases (P = 0.006), platelet (PLT) count (P = 0.020), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) (P < 0.001), alanine transaminase (ALT) (P = 0.033), erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) (P < 0.001), and C-reactive protein (CRP) (P < 0.001) as laboratory measurements, and cardiovascular disease (CVD) was the underlying disease with an odds ratio of 10.94. Conclusions: The study concluded that the factors associated with death were laboratory measures, such as CRP, ESR, hemoglobin, and liver enzymes, and potential diseases, such as cardiovascular and central nervous system diseases.