Clinicolaboratory Parameters of Pediatric COVID-19 Patients and Its Correlation with Outcome: A Study at a Teaching Hospital of Northern India

Aims and objectives:The worldwide prevalence of pediatric coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) infections has risen from 1-5% in early part of 2020 to 8-9% in later half of 2020.Though clinical features of pediatric COVID-19 are well researched, its correlation with biochemical parameters and outcome is less evaluated.Materials and methods: A retrospective evaluation of records of a cohort of 45 children with RT-PCR confirmed COVID-19.We collected information on clinical, laboratory features, and their outcome in all children (age <18 years) admitted between March 1, 2020, and December 31, 2020. Results:The mean age of the study population was 11.7 ± 4.83 years.The average duration of hospital stay of patients was 7.8 ± 2.51 days.The majority of COVID-19 positive children were asymptomatic (20, 44.4%), 12 (26.6%)had upper respiratory tract features while only 4 (8.8%) had features of lower respiratory tract infection.Five children had nonspecific manifestations.The abnormal chest X-ray findings, the RFT, LFT, and inflammatory markers like C-reactive protein (CRP) (>1 mg/dL), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) (>450 IU/L), serum ferritin (>300 ng/mL), and D-dimer values of >1,000 ng/mL, in ICU and non-ICU patients were highly significant.Conclusion: Coronavirus disease 2019 in Indian children seems to affect the older age group.In India, COVID-19 is more associated with comorbidities like chronic kidney disease and chronic infection like tuberculosis rather than congenital heart disease and other acute respiratory illnesses in western studies.Inflammatory markers correlate well with the severity of illness but TLC, DLC, and NL ratio showed variable results and does not correlate with severity of illness.