Abstract
Objective
To describe the broader clinical spectrum of COVID-19 in children.
Methods
In this descriptive, prospective study, we included confirmed pediatric patients with COVID-19 who presented to the emergency department of a pediatric tertiary care center from April to July, 2020. All patients were confirmed by the SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR test, and we analyzed 24 symptoms and 25 signs.
Results
Among the 50 patients with COVID-19, the most common symptoms were fever, excessive cry and dry cough; digestive symptoms were frequently found (24%). The most common signs were pharyngeal erythema and irritability.
Conclusion
Clinicians should recognize that the clinical spectrum of COVID-19 in children is wider than previously described, often with nonspecific signs and symptoms, and digestive symptoms should raise suspicion.
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Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
EB: conceptualized the study design; EB,DC,NS,MC: recruited patients, collected demographic and clinical data. EB,DC: analyzed and interpreted the results; EB: wrote the manuscript in Spanish; NS,DC: translated the manuscript; DC,NS,MC,EB: commented on and revised the manuscript. All authors approved the final report.
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Ethics declarations
Ethics Clearance: Institutional ethics committee of Hospital Infantil de México Federico Gómez; No. HIM-AE-004-2020, dated September 14, 2020.
Competing interest: None stated.
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Bustos-Cordova, E., Castillo-Garcia, D., Ceron-Rodriguez, M. et al. Clinical Spectrum of COVID-19 in a Mexican Pediatric Population. Indian Pediatr 58, 126–128 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13312-021-2126-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13312-021-2126-5